2 Weeks with 2 Digits Lead; Does It Mean Noynoy is 2 Steps Away from Malacanang

The recent survey of Social Weather Station and Business World showed that the presidential bet of the Liberal Party could be the next President of the Philippines. The 2 digit lead is a good sign that his closest rival will be finding a very difficult chance to win the highest position in the land. The Liberal party knows that they have to maintain and increase the lead to make it sure that Senator Noynoy Aquino will win a landslide victory come May 10, 2010 elections. The Nationalista Party on the other hand, is trying to cope up and intensified its tri-media campaign. They have launched a new ad featuring his mother and Villar's camp lambasts the media for not reporting fairly.

Political analysts believes that the issues haunting Villar affects his stat in the survey. If these remained unanswered, these will definitely affect the decision of the voters.




The endorsement of Senator Chiz Escudero could also become a major factor in Senator Aquino's victory in the presidential race. According to surveys, any endorsement coming from Senator Escudero will bring more votes to the candidate. This is aside from the endorsement of Governor-Actress Vilma Santos-Recto. The defection of the Governor Joey Salceda from the administration party is also considered as a major boost for Senator Aquino's candidacy. The Liberal Party is assured of a big number of votes from Bicol which is known as a block-voting region.

The last 2 weeks is very crucial to every candidate. All are trying to get media attention. A few weeks ago, Senator Richard Gordon wants to sue two leading poll agencies for including his name in the surveys thus affecting his campaign. Senator Jamby Madrigal will go on hunger strike once the Comelec did not act on her requests. Former President Joseph Estrada is accusing Senator Villar of influencing the PSE to approve the use of the shares from one of his real estate business.

Expect that the next days will be the worst battle ground between these presidential candidates.

Gay Rights Party Ang Ladlad Can Run Says High Court, Church Disagrees

It was a victory for the gay rights movement to finally get the approval of the highest court saying that they can participate in the May 10 national elections. The party who was previously disqualified by the COMELEC for moral issues went to the Supreme Court to fight the case. The court asked the poll body to accredit the application of the Ang Ladlad as a party list.

"I felt vindicated," said Danton Remoto, the head of the group. He said that Ang Ladlad had struggled for recognition and accreditation for the past seven years. The ruling was unanimous citing that there is no law that would bar the gay party to participate in the coming elections. "The denial of Ang Ladlad's registration on purely moral grounds amounts more to a statement of dislike and disapproval of homosexuals, rather than a tool to further any substantial public interest," the court said.

However, a bishop of the Roman Catholic Church expressed his disappointment on the decision of the high court. The church has been firm in teaching about the issue of morality.

Pulse Asia Senatoriables Survey

Here is the latest result of the survey of Pulse Asia conducted last March 21-28. It showed that the contest for senators in the May 1 election is not one-sided. However, it is noted that only 2 candidates from the administration were able to get into the top 14 position. The rest is taken by the different opposition candidates. Four senatoriables came from the Liberal Party, 4 from President Erap's party, and 4 candidates came from the group of Senator Manny Villar.

BusinessWorld Latest Survey on Presidentiables

The latest poll commissioned by the BusinessWorld showed Sen. Aquino gaining the lead again after losing the lead on previous poll. The latest BusinessWorld-Social Weather Stations Pre-Election Survey was conducted last March 19-22. It was conducted just before campaigning for local posts began. From a previous statistically tied results, the Liberal Party candidate showed that he is still the candidate to beat in the May 2010 national elections.

Senator Noynoy Aquino - 37%
Senator Manny Villar- 28%
former President Erap Estrada- 19%
Secretary Gibo Teodoro- 6%
Senator Dick Gordon - 3%
Brother Eddie Villanueva- 2%
John Carlos “JC" De Los Reyes- 0.3%
Jesus Nicanor “Nick" P. Perlas- 0.1%
Sen. Ana Consuelo “Jamby" Madrigal- 0.04%


However, political analysts believe that the numbers will still change because of the start of the local campaign period. There are already several local candidates who are changing alliances and this will definitely affect the outcome of the May 2010 election for the Presidency.