MAR KEEPS COMMANDING LEAD IN SWS SURVEY

Sen. Mar Roxas has again beat his rivals in the 2010 vice presidential race in a special nationwide survey conducted by the Social Weather Stations (SWS), according to a major national daily.

In its report last Sunday, The Philippine Star reported that the SWS survey from December 27-28 last year showed 47% of Filipino voters will vote for Roxas, an increase of four points from his previous rating in the SWS survey from December 5-10 of 43%.

The December 27-28 survey result also raised Roxas' lead over his nearest rival, Senator Loren Legarda, from 11 percentage points in the December 5-10 survey to 16 percentage points in the latest survey.

The special survey was commissioned by San Juan Rep. Ronaldo Zamora, an ally of the Nacionalista Party which is pitting Legarda as its vice presidential bet against Roxas.

In the December 27-28 survey, Legarda was chosen by 31% of voters, a drop of one percentage point compared to her rating in the December 5-10 survey. The other vice presidential candidates posted much lower ratings: Jejomar Binay, 14%; Bayani Fernando, 3%; and Edu Manzano, 2%.

Roxas has kept a two-digit lead over his rival vice presidential contenders in all recent surveys conducted by known poll firms, a strong indication of how voters would pick the country's second highest elective official in this year's national elections.

In a recent survey commissioned by radio station DZRH and its mother company Manila Broadcasting Co (MBC), the Visayan senator was chosen by 42.4 % while Legarda only got 31%.

Three other surveys have also given Roxas huge lead over his rivals for the vice-presidency.

In the survey conducted on December 6-10 by pollster Pedro Laylo, Jr. and published in the Manila Standard Today, 46% of its respondents chose Senator Benigno S. Aquino III as the candidate they will vote for as President if elections were held today, while Roxas was chosen by 41 percent of the voters as the candidate they will vote for as Vice-President.

In the SWS' December 5-10, 2009 survey for Business World, 46% of voters also chose Aquino for President and 41 percent chose Roxas for Vice-President. In the Pulse Asia survey from December 8-10, 45% of voters chose Aquino for President and 39% chose Roxas for Vice-President.

"Malaking karangalan para sa amin ang labis-labis na tiwalang ipinagkakaloob sa atin ng ating mga kababayan. Hinding-hindi namin bibiguin ang sambayanan (This is a big honor. I will not disappoint our countrymen)," said Roxas, the LP president.