6 admin bets make it to senatorial Magic 12 —Pulse Asia survey

Half of the 12 Senate seats up for grabs in the May 9 elections will likely go to those who were endorsed by President Benigno Aquino III if the polls were held two weeks ago, according to the latest Pulse Asia survey.

Senate President Franklin Drilon (1st-2nd), former Sen. Francis Pangilinan (3rd-4th), former Justice Sec. Leila De Lima (5th-9th), Sen. Ralph Recto (6th-12th), former Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA) director general Joel Villanueva (7th-12th), and former Akbayan Rep. Risa Hontiveros (7th-12th) made it to the cut based on the March 29-April 3 poll.

Not far behind was Sen. Teofisto Guingona III, who shared the 13th to 15th places with Valenzuela City Rep. Sherwin Gatchalian and former Metropolitan Manila Development Authority chairman Francis Tolentino in the new survey commissioned by ABS-CBN Corp.

Drilon was statistically tied with Sen. Vicente Sotto, who is under presidential bet Sen. Grace Poe's ticket, for the top spot.

The survey shows that 49.4 percent of the voters are rooting for Sotto while 48.9 percent of the respondents are for Drilon. 

Rounding out the top 12 were former Sen. Panfilo Lacson (3rd-4th), former Sen. Juan Miguel Zubiri (5th-6th), Sen. Sergio Osmeña III (6th-12th), Sarangani Rep. Manny Pacquiao (6th-12th) and former Sen. Richard Gordon (7th-12th).

Filipinos have an average of seven names in their senatorial line-up while a third (34 percent) of 4,000 respondents indicated they have a full slate, according to the survey.

Only 6.5 percent of registered voters do not support any of the 50 senatorial candidates. 

Sampling error margins were ±1.5 percent for national percentages, ±4.6 percent for Metro Manila, ±2.3 percent for the rest of Luzon,  ±3.4 percent for Visayas and ±3.3 percent for Mindanao at the 95 percent confidence level. —Virgil Lopez and Kiersnerr Gerwin Tacadena/KG, GMA News