Roxas statistically tied for first; gains big in the latest Pulse Asia Survey

Wait, it's not yet time to celebrate that much because there's still 11 months before the May 2010 Presidential elections, but as of now, this one is a good news. According to the latest Pulse Asia Survey dated May 4 to 17, 2009, our presidential bet, Senator Mar Roxas, is now on the circle of 5.

Photo courtesy of ABS-CBN News

Roxas was the biggest gainer in the latest Pulse Asia survey for the period February to May 2009. He was also statistically tied for first given the survey error parameters of +/- 3%.

In his press statement, he said:

"Nararamdaman na ng taumbayan ang aking pakikipaglaban para sa mahihirap. Nagpapasalamat ako sa mga taong naniniwalang mababago ko hindi lang ang kanilang mga buhay kundi ang pamamalakad ng ating bansa."

Photo courtesy of ABS-CBN News

Roxas was also number one in the Visayas region, where my place Cebu is in and my province Biliran is in too. But let us remember that we must not be put all our effort in one or few provinces. We must get every single vote in all of the provinces in the Philippines to be able to win. No matter how small or big that province is, every vote should count for us. In that same press statement also, Roxas thanked the people of Visayas for their continued support on him:

"Malaki ang utang na loob na tinatanaw ko sa taumbayan, lalo na sa aking mga kababayan mula sa Visayas na patuloy na sumusuporta sa akin," he said.

As Stella Arnaldo puts it on her blog post:

"Anything can still happen between now and May 11, 2010."

Indeed. Roxas has been saying that no matter what the result of these surveys are, there is only one survey that would matter, and that's the 2010 presidential elections. If we succeed, then good. But if we won't, then we must look back on where we got it wrong. But I know we don't want to fail. Do you?

This is the third straight poll showing an increase for Mar Roxas who in 2004 garnered almost 20 million votes when he topped the 2004 senate elections. The vote garnered by Mar Roxas in 2004 was and still is the highest number of votes garnered by any candidate in the Philippines.

Veteran political columnist Ellen Tordesillas also shared her thoughts on this good news:

"Looks like Sen.Mar Roxas “padyak” ads are effective in making people notice him. Or maybe because of his crusade against Legacy owner Celso de los Angeles whom he accused of swindling thousands of plan holders. Or it could be the "Korina Sanchez" factor."

I really don't know where exactly Roxas hit the right note because there has been so much fuss about his Padyak TV Ad. His public engagement also with Korina Sanchez was called distasteful to some even other accusing the host of Wowowee, Willie Revillame, of being bribed to have them on the show which is so untrue. The Legacy issue has also been a good aspect of Roxas' pursuit for justice to those who are being fooled by people like Celso de los Angeles. Whatever it is, I know these contributed a lot to Roxas' poll ratings.

But here's one point that blogger Ding Gagelonia has observed that might have boosted Roxas' poll ratings:

"I am making the observation after also having closely tracked his performance in the first episode of the ABS-CBN Leaders Foum during which Mar projected a clear vision of what he wanted to do."

Oh! Why would we forget that. The ABS-CBN Leadership Forum was a good avenue to get to know more him and his vision for our country. That surely helped a lot.

As what I have said earlier, the piñata hasn't been broken and we still don't know what's inside it. It's still a wide open race for the potential presidential candidates, unless some of them slide down. We should do all our best to make Mar Roxas succeed. We must do our part, because if not, then this is just a piece of nothing that we are doing.

Please pass this good news to your family members, friends and relatives here in the Philippines and abroad. Lalaban Tayo dahil Mahalaga Ang Pilipino! Mahalaga Ang Tao!

Oras Na! Roxas Na!