Bam, Kiko, Marcoleta Played ‘Survey Spoilers’

By Herbert Vego

MY friend Red phoned to correct my previous column, where I described senators-elect Bam Aquino and Kiko Pangilinan as “the biggest blow against pre-election surveys” which had never included the two in their monthly “magic 12” surveys.

“You missed Rodante Marcoleta,” Red hollered.

“You are correct,” I responded while going over the names of the 12 presumptive winners from top to bottom: Bong Go, Bam Aquino, Bato dela Rosa, Erwin Tulfo, Kiko Pangilinan, Rodante Marcoleta, Ping Lacson, Tito Sotto, Pia Cayetano, Camille Villar, Lito Lapid and Imee Marcos.

Indeed, Marcoleta ranks 6^th, which is ironic because he was the only senatorial candidate who lambasted the survey firms for mind-conditioning gullible voters.

A pre-election news report published in the April 8, 2025 issue of the Philippine Star said, “Regarding the survey, Marcoleta was irked by his exclusion from the list.”

He was not really excluded; he was 36^th in the ranking released by the Social Weather Stations (SWS).

“Ito po ‘yung klase ng mga manipulative surveys na pinaniniwalaan po ng mga tao. Sana po hindi na lang nila ako sinama,” the congressman-turning-senator said.

Going back to the 12^th senators-elect, missing are the names of five survey frontrunners, namely Bong Revilla, Ben Tulfo, Abby Binay, Willie Revillame and Manny Pacquiao. They lost.

This prompted panicky executives of SWS, Pulse Asia and Octa Research to storm TV and radio programs to explain why they had erred.

“Surveys are not a crystal ball. They are not a guarantee and they are really just a snapshot of a particular time,” OCTA Research fellow Ranjit Rye told GMA TV.

SWS chair emeritus Dr. Mahar Mangahas simply said, “Anything can change.”

I could imagine respondents of their face-to-face surveys revising their bucket list.

Or could it be that most voters refused to be “guided” by senatorial surveys?

In my case, I voted for candidates with regard to their likely judgment in the forthcoming impeachment trial of Vice-President Sara Duterte.

By the way, what would happen if the winning senators were the same candidates named in the surveys’ “magic 12”?

For sure it would encourage the politicians running in 2028 to “subscribe” to the surveys at a price we are not free to know.

Surveying must be good business, since there are now eight of them that are Comelec-accredited.

I reiterate my disbelief in the “scientific methodology” that pollsters of national elections crow about. If, as they claim, they have 1,200 to 2,500 respondents, these questions from Malacañang press officer Claire Castro resonate: “Who are they? Where are they?”

We have 68 million registered voters scattered across 18 regions, which are composed of 82 provinces, which are further divided into 146 cities, 1,493 municipalities and 42,011 barangays.

Incidentally, do you know anybody who has participated in the surveys?

I have yet to know one.

-oOo-

MORE POWER’S ‘OPLAN HALALAN’ A SUCCESS

MORE Power, Iloilo City’s distribution utility, reported that its monitoring of electricity availability before, during and after the May 12 election was a success.

That there was no record of power outages in 66 polling centers in Iloilo City could be traced to the company’s responses to minor issues within the schools hosting polling precincts.

A single pole fire incident made no impact on voting activities. This was promptly managed by live-line work by a fully equipped operations team, reflecting MORE Power’s ongoing commitment to technical excellence and operational readiness in partnership with COMELEC to support a seamless, reliable election experience.

MORE Power had 100 technical men who conducted inspections in different polling centers