DAVAO CITY (MindaNews / 30 April) – An overwhelming majority of the city’s 992,538 voters will vote for Ferdinand Marcos, Jr. for President and Sara Duterte for Vice President, and her siblings Sebastian and Paolo for Davao City Mayor and 1st district Representative, according to the results of the off-campus, city-wide BlueVote 2022 survey of the Ateneo de Davao University (ADDU), which also showed Robin Padilla as the top choice for senator.
The results of the survey, presented Friday noon, showed that for mayor, 86% will vote for Sebastian Duterte (Hugpong ng Pagbabago), 9.4% “cannot decide,” 3.8% are for Ruy Lopez and 0.1% each will vote for Joseph Elizalde and Teddy Mantilla.
Conducted on April 5 to 13 and 16 to 18, the survey had 1,594 respondents, a 95% confidence level and margin of error of plus or minus 2.45%.
For Vice Mayor, Melchor Quitain, Jr. (HNP) is running unopposed but 76.1% will vote for him, 18.6% “cannot decide” and 3.4% will not vote for him.
For the first congressional district, 82.93% will vote for reelectionist Rep. Paolo Duterte (HNP), 12.65% “cannot decide,” 2.21% will vote for Maria Victoria “Mags” Maglana, 0.2% for Jamal Kanan and 0 for Jovanie Mantawel. Maglana, Kanan and Mantawel are independent candidates.
For the second congressional district, 55.5% are voting for Vincent Garcia, 30.4% for Danilo Dayanghirang, 9.7% “cannot decide,” 2.4% “honestly do not know” and 0.9% for Alberto Dulong.
For the third congressional district, 83% will vote for reelectionist Isidro Ungab, 13.5% “cannot decide” and 0.6% will vote for Abundio Indonilla.
Marcos-Duterte
For President, 79.8% are voting for Marcos, 13% “cannot decide, 2.1% will vote for Vice President Leni Robredo, 1.6% will go for Senator and world boxing icon Emmanuel Pacquiao, 0.9% for Isko Moreno and 0.8% for Ping Lacson.
For Vice President, 89.3% are voting for outgoing Davao City mayor Sara Duterte, 6.61% “cannot decide,” 1.1% will vote for Senate President Tito Sotto, 0.4% for Willie Ong, 0.3% “refused to answer,” 0.2% each for Walden Bello and Robredo’s running mate, Francis Pangilinan.
For the Senate race, Davao City residents are voting for Robin Padilla (40.6%), Mark Villar (40.5%), Alan Peter Cayetano (36.5%), Raffy Tulfo (33.3%), Harry Roque (32.1%), Loren Legarda (31.5%), Migz Zubiri (31.2%), Jinggoy Estrada (28.7%), JV Ejercito (25.8%), Chiz Escudero (25.1%) Gilbert Teodoro (21.5%) and Sherwin Gatchalian (20.5%).
Abolish anti-dynasty provision
More than half of the respondents (51.5%) agreed with the ADDU that “the anti-dynasty provision in the 1986 (sic) Constitution should be abolished,” out of which 27.7% strongly agreed. This statement was among those framed by the survey under “backdrop items and general perception on selected national, political and socio-economic issues.”
The ADDU Blue Vote apparently referred to the 1987 Constitution’s Article II, Section 26: “The State shall guarantee equal access to opportunities for public service, and prohibit political dynasties as may be defined by law.”
The Duterte political dynasty is well-entrenched in Davao City. Rodrigo Roa Duterte, initially appointed as OIC Vice Mayor, won as mayor for three consecutive terms (1988 to 1998), served as representative of the 1st district from 1998 to 2001, was mayor again for three consecutive terms (2001 to 2010), vice mayor to his daughter Sara (2010 to 2013), mayor again (2013 to 2016) and President from 2016.
Sara and Paolo entered the political arena in 2007, Sara as Vice Mayor to her father, Paolo as barangay chair of Catalunan Grande who would join the City Council in 2008 as president of the association of barangay chairs. Sara served as mayor from 2010 to 2013, took a break from 2013 to 2016, when her father returned as mayor, returned as mayor from 2016 to 2019 and from 2019 to 2022. Paolo served as Vice Mayor to his father from 2013 to 2016 and to his sister Sara, from 2016 until he resigned on Christmas Day 2017, citing his failed marriage with his first wife, his having been implicated in a 6.4 billion peso shabu smuggling, and his public squabble with his daughter.
Awareness of candidates
Of those surveyed, more than half chose a candidate even as during the survey dates, they had not seen a copy of the official list of candidates for the position they are voting for.
“Have you seen any official listing of all the Presidential candidates?” the survey asked. The answers: for President (51.4% No, 48.5% Yes).
Asked the same question for other posts, more than half replied they had not seen a copy of the official list of candidates: for Vice President (52.3% No, 47.7% Yes), for Senators (66.2% No, 33.7% Yes), for representative in their congressional district (55.8% No, 44.1% Yes), for councilors in their district (56.2% No, 43.7% Yes).
The survey showed that the respondents had seen a copy of the official list of candidates for mayor (54.3% Yes, 45.7% No) and for vice mayor (50.6% Yes, 49.3% No).
There are four candidates for Mayor of Davao City – Sebastian Duterte, Ruy Elias Lopez, Joseph Elizalde and Teddy Mantilla. Melchor Quitain Jr. is the lone candidate for Vice Mayor.
There are four candidates in the 1st congressional district, three in the second and two in the third.
There are 15 candidates for councilor in the 1st district, 15 in the second and 10 in the third. (Carolyn O. Arguillas / MindaNews)
