Gibo still confident he'll make it in May polls

DESPITE coming in third on recent national surveys, former defense secretary Gilbert "Gibo" Teodoro Jr., presidential bet of the Lakas-Kampi-CMD, said "anything can happen in 60 days" before the elections.

Parish Pastoral Council for Responsible Voting (PPCRV) with the marketing research firm Campaigns and Image, recently released their survey results which has broken the pattern of previous surveys.

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The survey said, Senator Manuel “Manny” Villar of the Nacionalista Party (NP) is ahead of Senator Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III of the Liberal Party (LP), but Teodoro has overtaken former President Joseph “Erap” Ejercito Estrada of the Pwersa ng Masang Pilipino (PMP) to come in 3rd place.

Teodoro in an interview Tuesday said he does not rely on surveys and expects more change in the remaining days before the polls.

"It's not that I do not trust surveys it's just not part of my strategy to (to solely rely on surveys). Malayo pa ang 60 days, marami pang pwedeng mangyari," Teodoro said after the 2010 Mindanao Presidential Forum held at the Ateneo de Davao University.

Asked where his strength is, Teodoro said he relied on the local network under his political party.

"My strength is at the local leadership network which extends to 70 percent of the Philippines. My weakness lies on the lack of awareness outside that," Teodoro said.

PPCRV posted that Villar is ahead of the pack with a 32 percent rating. Aquino is in 2nd place with a 23 percent rating.

Teodoro however is now “within striking distance,” having garnered 18 percent or only six percentage points away from his cousin’s score.

The PPCRV survey was conducted between February 10 and 20 this year, also showed that Estrada is now in far fourth with a 5.75 percent rating.

The survey had a sample size of 5,100 individuals, of whom 4,947 were respondents who came from various sectors in Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao. The respondents were asked which presidential candidate had the better platform of government, based on an article and columns written by Bobit Avila that were recently published in a Manila broadsheet and a Cebu-based newspaper.

Meanwhile, the widely read columnist Belinda Olivares-Cunanan wrote in a Manila-based broadsheet that Teodoro had already captured the "youth vote" in an earlier survey similarly done by the PPCRV from Jan. 20-31, also in cooperation with Campaigns and Image.