Grace Poe’s camp calls it: Eleksyon 2016 a two-way race with Duterte

LAPU-LAPU CITY—It's shaping up to be a two-way fight for the presidency between Senator Grace Poe and Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte, the lawmaker's camp has declared.

“So looking at our surveys, it's going to be us and Digong. Si Digong kasi is coming from a lower base, yung trajectory niya mas mataas talaga sa atin. Kasi we were already at 30 eh,” Poe's spokesman Cebu Representative Ace Durano said.

Poe and Duterte were statistically tied for first in the latest mobile survey conducted by the Social Weather Stations in cooperation with TV5. Poe paced the poll at 34 percent, while Duterte was at 31 percent for the poll that had a margin of error of ±4.

Meanwhile, Vice President Jejomar Binay and former Interior Secretary Manuel "Mar" Roxas II were both chosen by 17 percent of those polled, while one percent chose Sen. Miriam Defensor-Santiago.

The survey was conducted on March 30.

Meanwhile, the latest Pulse Asia pre-election survey commissioned by ABS-CBN showed Poe as the frontrunner with 28 percent, while Duterte and Binay were statistically tied with 24 and 23 percent, respectively.

Roxas placed fourth in that poll with 19 percent while Senator Miriam Defensor-Santiago landed in fifth place with two percent.

It was conducted last March 15 to 20.

Durano admitted that the surge in Duterte’s survey ratings have somehow tempered the Poe’s pre-election numbers.

But while Duterte’s popularity has been increasing over the past few weeks, Durano also noted that Poe’s ratings continue to be steady and she remains the frontrunner in most of the surveys.

“[Y]ung momentum natin hindi naman pababa eh. Yung momentum natin pataas pa rin pero yung momentum ni Digong (Duterte’s nickname), is parang tempering also yung trajectory natin. So yung mga sinasabi nila na it's really between Sen. Grace and Digong, I agree with that. I think it will come down to that,” he said.

Gaining momentum

Durano said the latest voter preference surveys would show that Duterte’s candidacy has been gaining momentum, particularly in the Visayas and Mindanao.

He attributed the jump in the mayor’s popularity to his increased visibility since the start of the campaign period on February 9, as well as the drop in Vice President Jejomar Binay’s survey ratings.

“Ngayon lang umiikot si Digong eh. So you can see na mataas yung sa kanya. Second, he was coming from a very low base also. Number 3 siya nagsimula.... Si Binay is going down. So yung [numbers] kay Binay, kailangan that will go somewhere,” he said.

With barely a month left before the elections, Durano said Poe’s camp is focused on communicating her plan of uplifting Filipinos’ lives.

As for winning in Mindanao, the lawmaker conceded it would be a difficult feat to pull off considering that voters there are rooting for Duterte.

“Sa Mindanao naman, bailiwick talaga yun ni Digong eh. So parang give mo na yan. Yung sa amin na lang is to be second in Mindanao,” Durano said. —NB, GMA News