MANILA - Businessman Ramon del Rosario on Monday admitted to commissioning the latest Social Weather Stations (SWS) survey on voter preference for Senator Benigno 'Noynoy' Aquino III, and said he was personally "stunned' by the result.

In an interview by Ricky Carandang over ANC's Dateline Philippines, del Rosario attributed the strong showing of Aquino in the September 5-6 SWS survey in four Luzon regions to public sympathy for the late President Cory Aquino and to what the Aquino name stands for.

"I have to admit we were stunned by the results of the survey. Quite honestly, we did not expect that the level of popularity or acceptance by the public [for Aquino] would be this high this early," he said.

"I think it's a rejection of everything that's going on, what I call the runaway corruption. I think it's a strong desire for very significant change in terms of quality of governance, particularly in terms of morality in government and honest, integrity, so, factors that I guess the Aquino name stands for," del Rosario, chairman of the influential Makati Business Club (MBC), said.

He added that the support for Noynoy Aquino also reflects the "outpouring of love and admiration and support and respect for President Cory when she passed away, like, you know, carrying those feelings forward."

Mrs. Aquino died August 1. Around 250,000 joined her funeral procession from Manila Cathedral to Manila Memorial Park in Parañaque City. Millions of people paid their respects through the internet.

Aquino family friend made request 
 
Del Rosario also disclosed that he was asked by a friend of the Aquino family to help raise funds for the survey, and that it was former Senator Sergio Osmeña who framed the "rider" questions.

"I was approached by a family friend of the Aquino family to ask if we could raise funds so that they could put a rider on a survey that was going to take place in these particular regions. And the idea was to see if we could probably give additional inputs to Noynoy so that he could make his decision based on some facts. And that's why the survey was done as quickly as possible, and it was conducted on the 5th and 6th of September," he said. "As things turned out, Noynoy made his announcement before the results were out."

Del Rosario, who served as finance secretary during the Ramos administration, said he wouldn't be surprised if support for Aquino would "get eroded somewhat" during the election campaign.

However, he added that Aquino's "base of support will probably continue to be very, very strong throughout."

In the SWS survey, 50% of 1,200 respondents in the National Capital Region, Pangasinan, central Luzon, and portions of the southern Tagalog region chose Aquino over erstwhile survey leaders Senator Manny Villar, former President Joseph Estrada, Francis 'Chiz' Escudero and Vice-President Noli de Castro. The survey has a margin of error of plus/minus 3%.

Lakas-Kampi-CMD can catch up
 
Meanwhile, a leader of the ruling Lakas-Kabalikat ng Malayang Pilipino-Christian Muslim Democrats (Lakas-Kampi-CMD) said  on Monday that the administration candidate can still catch up with the survey leaders given its strong machinery.

In an interview on Umagang Kay Ganda (UKG), Surigao del Sur Rep. Prospero Pichay said that once the administration bet is announced and the election campaign starts, the ruling party bet will be able to gain ground in the surveys.

Pichay cited his own experience in the 2007 elections where he caught up with the survey leaders by spending heavily on political ads.

"Ang halalan naman ay next year pa, malayo pa yon. I'll give you an example: in the last election, nang tumakbo ako, napakalayo ko, hindi ako binigyan talaga na makaabot sa itaas, but medyo umabot tayo ng number 15. Given a few more days, a few more weeks, baka I would have made it. That is just one example na kung tama yung mensahe mo sa taong bayan, tama yung packaging ads, radio, e makakahabol ka," he said.

Lakas-Kampi-CMD boasts of having a strong machinery with around 70% of local officials as members of the party.

The Lakas-Kampi-CMD bet is expected to announce its bet on Wednesday after a national executive committee meeting.

Noli not running?

Pichay also said he believes that Vice-President Noli de Castro will not be joining the Lakas-Kampi-CMD, and that he may not even run for president.

"Nakikita natin  yung reluctance niya. Kasi kung ikaw talaga ay desididong maglingkod sa taong bayan, hindi ka na kailangan maghantay pa ng ganito katagal. You would have announced and said that I'm running for president at gusto kong maglingkod sa taong bayan. Kaya yung reluctance na yan, that's one of the signal that he is really not interested to run in the next election," Pichay said.

Even if de Castro does not run, he said the Lakas-Kampi-CMD has other aspirants, including Defense Secretary Gilbert Teodoro and Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) chair Bayani Fernando.

"He will be a big loss, but hindi naman kami nagkukulang ng mga presidentiable," Pichay said