SEVERAL lawmakers over the weekend challenged the ruling Liberal Party (LP) to reveal the complete results of the survey it commissioned for possible 2016 presidential candidates.
Party-list Rep. Silvestre Bello of 1-BAP expressed doubts over the LP’s survey for Interior Secretary Manuel Roxas II and Vice President Jejomar Binay.
On Wednesday LP Rep. Edgar Erice of Caloocan said that Roxas topped an LP-commissioned survey on the voter’s preference for president in 2016.
Erice said the survey, which has 1,200 respondents nationwide, was conducted only between Roxas and Binay, as the two were the only candidates, so far, who have declared their presidential plans. He said Roxas got 53 percent while Binay had 37 percent. Ten percent remained undecided.
Moreover, Bello, a senior member of the House minority bloc, said that he believes that there was no survey at all.
“I don’t think there was a survey. The spin was intended to discourage Sen. Grace Poe from running for president,” Bello said.
Nationalist People’s Coalition Rep. Sherwin Gatchalian of Valenzuela said that LP should release the complete results of its survey.
“In the name of transparency. They should release the results,” Gatchalian said.
For House Speaker Feliciano Belmonte Jr., LP vice chairman, “I want to see the big picture when probables are in. This obviously shows that Mar leads Binay on a one on one.”
Party-list Reps. Antonio Tinio of Alliance of Concerned Teachers, Joselito Atienza of Buhay Hayaang Yumabong and Terry Ridon of Kabataan said that the LP should be transparent.
“In the interest of greater transparency and full disclosure, all parties, including the LP, should name the survey firms from whom they source their data so that the public can make a more informed judgment on their claims. Otherwise, the findings should be dismissed outright as mere political spin and manipulation,” Tinio said.