ROXAS WINS YOUTH VOTE
LANDS DOUBLE-DIGIT LEADS IN UNIVERSITY POLLS

Liberal Party vice presidential candidate and survey frontrunner Sen. Mar Roxas is clearly the choice of the youth, as shown by recent surveys held in various universities in the country.

Roxas had two-digit leads over his rivals in surveys conducted at the University of the Philippines in Diliman, Quezon City; the Centro Escolar University in Malolos, Bulacan; the Holy Angels University in Pangasinan; the Catanduanes College in Virac, Catanduanes; and the Negros Oriental State University in Dumaguete city, Negros Oriental.

In UP Diliman, the Visayan senator got 4,582 votes or a 40% rating in the survey conducted during the period December 8 to 11, 2009. Vice presidential bets Sen. Loren Legarda (NP-NPC) got a mere 13% while Makati Mayor Jejomar Binay (UNO-PMP) got 12%.

Roxas got a high 56% rating in the January 15, 2010 survey conducted in CEU-Malolos. Legarda and Binay were tied at 13%.

Sixty-four percent (64%) or 3,688 of Holy Angels University students in Pangasinan chose Roxas over Legarda, who only got 23% and Binay, with only 8%. The survey was done last January 13.

At the Catanduanes College in Virac, a survey conducted last January 22 showed Roxas getting a 44.17% rating (or 446 votes) while Legarda got 23.99% and Binay, 16.14%.

At the Negros Oriental State University, some 1,684 students or a rating of 49.17% picked Roxas in the survey done during the period December 7 to 11, 2009. Legarda got 22.68% and Binay, 15.5%. Lakas-Kampi-NUCD vice presidential candidate Edu Manzano's name popped up with a rating of 12.65%.

Roxas is running on a campaign for reforms and good governance alongside Liberal standard bearer Sen. Benigno "Noynoy" Aquino III. He has pledged "not to steal" from the government and to open his bank accounts for public scrutiny once he wins in the May 10 national elections.

The 52-year old senator gave up his presidential bid in September to give way to a public clamor for Aquino to run following the death of his mother, the late President Cory Aquino.

He is the author of Republic Act No. 9502, known as the Universally Accessible Cheaper and Quality Medicines Act of 2008, which made quality but affordable medicines more accessible to the people.

He is hailed as the "Father of the BPO Industry" for pioneering the establishment of high-technology industry centers and the promotion of the business process outsourcing (BPO) market in the Philippines, particularly call center operations. From a mere 2000 jobs at the onset, the BPO industry now provides hundreds of thousands of jobs, putting the Philippines on the map as a major IT/BPO destination.