Former actors fared well in a new senatorial survey by the Social Weather Stations in a race being led by re-electionist Senators Cynthia Villar and Grace Poe.
The survey conducted from Dec. 16 to 19 showed actors and former actors Lito Lapid, Jinggoy Estrada and Ramon Revilla Jr. as possible winners if the elections were held during that period.
Lapid, who once admitted he didn’t make a good senator, is a mainstay in the TV series “Ang Probinsiyano” aired on Channel 2.
Estrada and Revilla, who were implicated in the multi-billion-peso pork barrel scam, also made it into the “winning circle” of 12.
Estrada is out on bail while Revilla was acquitted of plunder charges because of a lack of evidence.
Lapid landed in the sixth spot obtaining 38 percent of voters, followed by Revilla with 35 percent.
Senator Aquilino Pimentel III and Estrada were at the eighth and ninth places, both with 34 percent voter preference.
Occupying the top slot, Villar obtained a voter preference of 62 percent, getting an estimated 37-million votes.
Poe got 60 percent of the votes or the equivalent of about 36.4-million votes.
Taguig Rep. Pia Cayetano and re-electionist Senators Sonny Angara and Nancy Binay shared the third to fifth places, all obtaining 40 percent of the votes.
Former Interior Secretary Mar Roxas, who lost to President Rodrigo Duterte in the 2016 presidential elections, landed in 10th place with 28 percent voter preference, followed closely by Ilocos Gov. Imee Marcos with 27 percent.
Also in the “Magic 12” is re-electionist Senator JV Ejercito who placed 12th with a voter preference of 28 percent.
Ejercito described his inclusion in the “winning circle” a slow but steady climb.
“But the trajectory is very encouraging. Considering I am the only re-electionist that has a brother running and no political ads yet. From 17 now to 12. I hope the next time it will be 8 or 9,” he said.
The poll had a margin of error of +- 3 percent for national percentages, which means Villar and Poe are statistically tied for the top spot.
The SWS survey showed that re-electionist Senator Paolo Benigno Aquino IV dropped out of the top 12, tying with former Senator Serge Osmeña at the 13th and 14th places.
Former Special Assistant to the President Christopher “Bong” Go placed 14th to 15th, tying with former Bureau of Corrections and Philippine National Police head Ronald dela Rosa.
Tied at the 17th and 18th rank are former Presidential Political Affairs Adviser Francis Tolentino and former Senate president Juan Ponce Enrile, who both obtained 16 percent.
The survey lists the 63 candidates registered with the Commission on Elections. “‹