Kiko tells Manny Villar: You can't buy people's votes! ‏

MANILA, March 9 (PNA) -- You can try, but can't buy our spot on top.

This was the message of Liberal Party stalwart Senator Francis Pangilinan to Nacionalista Party standard bearer and 2010 poll campaign's top spender Senator Manuel 'Manny Villar' who he said had been suffering from epic fail in national surveys.

"Despite being the first candidate to run in the presidential derby, and an unprecedented ad buy of over one billion pesos since November of last year, Sen. Villar continues to fall short of his ultimate objective –– that of overtaking Sen. Noynoy," he said.

Pangilinan cited the last four surveys which showed slightly different numbers, but with only one common thread: Sen. Noynoy consistently leads in all of them.

The latest Pulse Asia Survey had Aquino leading Villar, 36-29; the SWS Survey had Aquino up 36-34; the Manila Standard Survey likewise had Aquino holding on to a 36-34 lead; while the TNS Survey had Aquino enjoying a 41-30 lead.

Except the TNS Survey which was conducted before the end of January, the three others were conducted in February.

"The numbers themselves are rather inconsistent. In one survey Sen. Noy's numbers in Mindanao are double that of Sen. Villar's; in another, Sen. Noy's lead in the same island is only three points," Pangilinan noted.

"We are, however, happy to see that our people have not allowed themselves to be swayed by the deluge of Villar ads on TV," Pangilinan stressed.

Villar, according to figures from AGB Nielsen, has spent over P120 million from February 9 to March 2 on TV advertisements alone.

The figure puts Villar’s total expenditures on political advertisements from November 1 last year to March 2 this year at over P1.3 billion –– an amount almost equal to the total TV ad expenditures of four of his closest rivals.

Former President Joseph Estrada ranked second with P88 million, followed by Sen. Aquino with P87 million and Sen. Richard Gordon with P67.3 million, and Administration party bet Gilberto Teodoro Jr. with P60.4 million TV commercials since the start of the campaign period.

"This only proves that our people will not support a leader who has been tainted by corruption nor one who is associated with the corrupt. The surveys show that Filipinos want a decent, honest leader they can trust––and they see that in Sen. Noy," Pangilinan said. (PNA)
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source:  PNA