And the survey says…

By Ermin Garcia Jr.

After   four long days of respite from the campaign trail, the candidates must be raring to get back to the hustings while the electorate eagerly awaits the results of more recent surveys if only to confirm their own predictions on who the sure winners are and whether their lists of “die-ers”  have changed.

And with barely five weeks to go, both the senatorial candidates of UNITY and GO can’t wait to get their hands on the results of the latest survey, this time by the Pulse Asia. Somehow, the SWS and Pulse Asia surveys have since acquired the credibility of the respectable neighborhood barber who simply knows everything there is to know.

But unknown to the public, what is more avidly sought is the survey conducted by Malacañang for its eyes only but always gets leaked to the media. Through its own surveys, GMA has managed to preempt public reaction to events and her government’s policies. Note how Spokesman Toting Bunye quickly reacts with prepared statements within minutes each time survey results are published.  Today, it is used to measure the strength and performance of its candidates.

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And what does Malacañang’s most recent survey tells its occupants?

The top twelve wannabes are: Loren Legarda (71%), Ping Lacson and Kiko Pangilinan (66%), Alan Cayetano (61%), Ralph Recto (60%), Chiz Escudero and Manuel Villar (58%), Ed Angara (49%), Joker Arroyo (40%), Noynoy Aquino and Tito Sotto (39%) and Gringo Honasan (34%).

It’s 6 GO, 4 UNITY and 2 IND.  Effectively, it’s 8 for the opposition and 4 for the administration.   

For the UNITY party, it means its candidates need to work harder. For the GO, it means it needs more logistics and exposure for more of its candidates. For the palace occupants, the targets for dagdag-bawas are now clearly defined.

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DEAD IN THE WATER. Finally, it can be said that the controversial planned tourism complex at the Magsaysay Park in Dagupan City is dead in the water.  The contractor of the MetroState Development Corp. has backed down after the city council threatened it with a lawsuit for starting a construction without a building permit and without a certification from the bidding committee that it is the acknowledged winning bidder.

However, this last ugly episode in the Lim administration must not be allowed to just disappear and forgotten like it never happened.  There was clearly a conspiracy to dupe the city government. There is a need to investigate the involvement of the city administrator (Raffy Baraan), the city legal officer (Geraldine Baniqued), city council committee chairman on laws (Councilor Teofilo Guadiz III) and the officials of MetroState.

Had it not been resisted by Vice Mayor Alvin Fernandez all the way, the project would have been another sweetheart deal for the mayor’s cronies.

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Looking back, one wonders what it was that made City Mayor Benjie Lim gamble all to get that project underway notwithstanding the evident irregularities that attended the bidding.

I do know that monies had changed hands in a desperate attempt to provide it the legal cover from the city council. I also know that the deal went pffft between a group of councilors and the interested parties, which explains in part why the committee report that initially tried to justify the project was never signed despite a voting on the floor that approved it.

A curious situation arose when the interested councilors had decreed in the resolution that nothing could be deemed final unless the committee report was signed by Chief Onor-onor Teofilo Guadiz III, the only author of the committee report. Did they sense a double-cross that could leave the gullible among them high and dry? 

Hmmm. But I also know that my favorite mayor is deeply upset by the double-cross that resulted in the failed “transaction”.

Puede ba, in the spirit of Easter, mag-soli naman yung mga nakatanggap? 

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Happy Easter to our Punchers! May our prayers for a reformed God-fearing society be soon realized.

(For past columns, click http://sundaypunch.prepys.com/archives/category/opinion/punchline/)

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