On Monday, May 13, the Philippines will hold its 31st senatorial elections to decide the new set of senators who will serve the country for the next three to six years.
From 82 aspirants who filed for candidacy last year, only 33 passed the Commission on Election’s (Comelec) benchmark and were deemed eligible to compete for the 12 seats in the senate.
Social Weather Stations – a private non-stock, nonprofit social research institution that has been releasing senatorial election polls since 1985 – in cooperation with business paper BusinessWorld, recently released the results of the 6th SWS-BW Pre-Election Survey which revealed the standings of the 33 competing senatorial hopefuls based on the citizen’s voting preferences.
The latest survey conducted in the period April 13 to 15, 2013, with 1,800 registered voters from different places as respondents, showed 13 candidates – nine from Team PNoy and four from the United Nationalist Alliance – as the frontrunners of the senatorial race.
Watch out this week as The LaSallian provides a brief profile of the senatorial hopefuls who are sitting on the winning circle of the latest SWS-BW survey in anticipation of next week’s elections.
Tonight we take a look at upper tier bets Chiz Escudero, Cynthia Villar, and Nancy Binay.
Chiz Escudero (Team PNoy)
Independent candidate and Team PNoy bet Francis “Chiz” Escudero landed fifth on the latest SWS-BW survey last April after garnering 47% or 846 votes of the possible 1800, although he has risen to 3rd-4th in the latest May poll results.
Chiz Escudero continuously gets lower affirmation poll since March when he fell from 2nd place to 3rd-4th and was labeled by Rappler.com as “the biggest loser” in the latest SWS poll.
The fourth generation Escudero started to serve in public office at the age of 28 as the first District of Sorgoson’s representative for the 11th congress of the Philippines. From June 1998 to November 2000, he became Assistant Majority Floor Leader of the Congress and Second Deputy Minority Floor Leader from November 2000 to January 2001. After this, he served as Assistant Deputy Minority of the 11th Congress from January to June 2001.
As a congressman, he was an outspoken critic of former Philippine President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, as he was one of the prime movers for the initiation of the former president’s impeachment proceedings.
His senatorial chances escalated when he became popularly known as the campaign spokesperson of the Koalisyon ng Nagkakaisang Pilipio (KNP) 2004 presidential bet Fernando Poe Jr.
Cynthia Villar (Team PNoy)
Miss Cynthia Villar, or as her political advertisements refer her, “Misis HanepBuhay”, was able to accumulate 49 percent of the 1800 respondent votes, making the April 2013 results her 6th consistent time to be listed in the poll’s Magic 12.
The Managing Director of Villar Foundation since 1992 and Las Pinas City Representative from 2001 to 2010 now seeks a seat on the senate under Team PNoy, despite President Aquino and husband Senator Manny Villar’s rivalry during the 2010 Presidential Elections.
Aside from being preoccupied with the foundation she established herself, Villar was also a Chairwoman Philippine National Red Cross – Las Pinas, a member of the Young Women’s Christian Association, and an honorary member of Las Pinas East Rotary Club as well as the Maria Cristina Rotary Club of Ilagan City.
From August 2006 to December 2008, Cynthia Villar served as the president of Senate Spouses Foundation, Inc. during which the group were able to raise P25 million for the rehabilitation of charity wards at the Philippine General Hospital.
The former Congresswoman worked for the passage of bills concerning education, and welfare of women, children, and family including The University of the Philippines Charter of 2008, Expanded Senior Citizens Act of 2003, and Anti-Trafficking in Persons Act of 2003.
However, Villar was recently denounced for her controversial response during the February 23 Senatorial Forum on GMA News TV where she made an upsetting remark about Filipino nurses. Villar has since apologized last March 4.
The former Las Pinas representative voted against the recently passed Reproductive Health Law and affirmed the Sin Tax Law.
Nancy Binay (UNA)
The 12th senatorial nominee of United Nationalist Alliance (UNA), Maria Lourdes Nancy Binay-Angeles, became the top bet of UNA as she accumulated affirmation from 49% or 882 of the 1800 respondents, making her land on the 3th-4th spot tied with Cynthia Villar as of late April.
From 1998 to 2001, the UP Diliman Tourism graduate Nancy Binay held administrative duties as personal assistant to her mother, Makati Mayor Elenita Binay. After Dr. Elenita Binay finished her term, her husband incumbent Vice President Jejomar Binay then took the position where Nancy again worked as a personal assistant. She remained as a personal assistant to her father even until he held national position as the 15th Vice President of the Philippines.
Aside from her job in the offices of her parents, the senate aspirant Binay is a member of the board of humanitarian organizations Brighthalls Children’s Foundation, Serbisyong Tunay Foundation Inc., and JCB Foundation.
Despite her absence of any position in either elective or appointive office – making her the only candidate from the two major coalition who has never held any government office – Nancy Binay has been sitting comfortably on the winning circle of the SWS-BW survey, where she placed 5th-7th and 3rd-4th of the March and April-May results respectively.
Initially, the Binay was not part of the party list’s slate, but was included only on October of last year after businessman Joey De Venecia withdrew from running on the first day of filling for candidacy.
Nancy Binay’s inclusion in UNA’s set of senatorial candidates made her the 3rd UNA bet to have descended from the party list’s leaders as former President Joseph Estrada’s son, San Juan Representative JV Ejercito and Senate president Juan Ponce Enrile’s son, Cagayan Representative Jack Enrile are also running under the same ticket.
The UNA bet recently turned down Team PNoy bet Risa Hontivero’s challenge to debate on public television, as well as numerous debate offers arguing on GMA News TV’s News To Go, “Ang priority ko ngayon ay umikot at talagang magkaroon ng face-to-face contact sa ating mga kababayan (My priority as of now is to go around and have face-to-face contact with our fellow countrymen).” She furthered that her main priority was to win on the ongoing elections, saying there was no time for debates with other candidates.
Based on her television advertisements tagline “Gaganda ang Buhay”, Nancy is offering a platform for a better life for children in terms of education, health and overall living standards.
