ACT-CIS party-list Rep. Erwin Tulfo again emerged as the top pick for the senatorial race in the 2025 midterm elections, a survey conducted by the OCTA Research group showed.
At least three in four or 76 percent of Filipino adults said they would vote for Tulfo for senator if the elections were held during the survey period from Dec. 10 to Dec. 14, results of OCTA’s Tugon ng Masa National Survey showed.
The number was even higher than the 60 percent score that Tulfo got in OCTA’s October 2023 survey.
Senator Christopher Go placed second with 53 percent followed by former Senate President Vicente Sotto III with 48 percent and Senator Ronald dela Rosa with 47 percent.
Senator Imee Marcos got a voting preference of 42 percent, followed by Senator Ramon Revilla with 35 percent.
Rounding up the list were Senator Francis Tolentino (33 percent); former Manila mayor Isko Moreno and former Senator Panfilo Lacson with 32 percent each; Senator Pia Cayetano (30 percent); former Senator Manny Pacquiao (28 percent); former Vice President Jejomar Binay (25 percent); and Senator Manuel Lapid (20 percent).
Other possible candidates in the list were Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro Jr. with 19 percent; former Senator Gringo Honasan II, Interior Secretary Benhur Abalos, and Willie Revillame with 18 percent each; and former vice presidential candidate Willie Ong and former Vice President Leni Robredo with 17 percent each.
The survey was conducted among 1,200 respondents and has a ±3 margin of error.
In a separate fourth quarter survey conducted by PUBLiCUS Asia Inc., former President Rodrigo Duterte was the top-of-mind candidate for senator for the midterm elections.
With a margin of error of +/- 3 percent, Duterte was statistically tied in terms of voting predisposition with Tulfo (44 percent) and Ong (43 percent).
The former President earlier warned he would be compelled to come out of retirement and run for senator if his daughter, Vice President Sara Duterte, is impeached.
The younger Duterte was criticized for her past use of confidential funds and her request for P650 million under the 2024 national budget, which she later withdrew.
“If you do that, I’ll return to politics. I will be forced to,” the 78-year-old Duterte patriarch said. “It’s either I will run for senator or I will run for vice president even if I’m old.”