Gordon beats rivals at launch of 7-Eleven promo, student mock polls

Despite his low ranking in political surveys, Bagumbayan Party presidential bet Sen. Richard Gordon won hands down as the most preferred next president of the country at the launch of the latest 7-Eleven promo and at various student mock elections.

At the launch of the 7-Eleven promo, wherein customers pick up a 160z Gulp Cup that bears the colors and image of their presidential bet, Gordon won with 31%, followed by Gilbert Teodoro (20%), Sen. Noynoy Aquino (18%), Sen. Manny Villar (13%), Bro. Eddie Villanueva (5%) and former President Joseph Estrada (4%). Nine percent abstained.

In a recent open-source mock polls, Gordon was also picked by students from the University of the Philippines (UP) College of Mass Communication (CMC) to be the next president of the Philippines.

"I'm happy that I was No. 1 in UP. It's not a survey, it's a mock election. Tunay na eleksyon yun. Ang nangyari, mababa si Noynoy, sumunod sa akin si Gibo. Doon makikita na nag-iisip ang tao. That's what we need to do," he said.

A survey result conducted by the Department of Journalism, which was released last week, showed Gordon garnering a total of 139 votes, representing 37.57% of the 370 enrolled students of the CMC who participated in the mock presidential polls.

Teodoro came in second in the survey with 107 votes, Aquino was third with 48 votes, and Villar placed fourth with 37 votes.

Last January, the Bagumbayan standard bearer also topped the mock elections at the Lyceum University, recognized by 40% of the attendees of the Lyceum Presidential Forum as the most capable among all the presidential aspirants today.

Gordon received 59 votes, followed by Teodoro (23), Aquino (20), Villanueva (17), Nicanor Perlas (10), Estrada (9), Villar (7), and Olongapo Councilor JC Delos Reyes (2).

Meanwhile, Gordon advised the public to be wary of paid surveys as they often cause the conditioning of the minds of the electorate and, eventually, steal the people's right to choose the best and most capable candidate.

"We have to be wary of these paid surveys. We do not even know if all our names are there, who commissioned the survey, what was the methodology and what were the questions asked. We must not let these surveys take away our right to choose who among the candidates is the most capable to be the next president," Gordon stressed.

"We have to put in mind that it is the record of service, the track record, and not the surveys, that matter in choosing the next leaders of our country," he concluded.