SWS denies survey showing 20-point lead for Duterte

The Social Weather Stations (SWS) on Wednesday denied having conducted a survey showing Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte pulling away from his four rivals for the presidency. 

SWS disclosed in a statement that it has not conducted any survey on voter preferences from April 29 to May 2, the results of which were posted on Facebook by a certain Joanna Allas-Fojas.

Fojas appears to be a Duterte supporter based on her posts. 

"With less than a week left before the elections, we remind the public to be vigilant of false SWS survey reports bearing the SWS logo and unverifiable survey results on voter preferences," SWS said. 

It also urged the public to rely only on the SWS website at http://www.sws.org.ph for its official media releases and public reports.

The results of the fake SWS survey showed Duterte got a voter preference rating of 42 percent, followed by Senator Grace Poe with 22 percent. 

Vice President Jejomar Binay had 18 percent while administration bet Manuel "Mar" Roxas II obtained a rating of 16 percent.

Senator Miriam Defensor Santiago languished at 2 percent. 

In the vice presidential race, the alleged fake poll put Senator Ferdinand Marcos Jr. on top with 28 percent. 

Camarines Sur Leni Robredo and Senator Francis Escudero shared the second spot with 23 percent voter preference. 

Senator Alan Peter Cayetano placed fourth with 11 percent. 

The names of Senators Gregorio Honasan II and Antonio Trillanes IV were not mentioned in the Facebook post. 

SWS had previously disowned a survey showing Binay in tight competition with Duterte and Poe. 

The pollster also denied conducting a survey involving candidates for national and local positions in Cabuyao City, Laguna. —Virgil Lopez/APG/JST, GMA News