In latest Tagum surveys
By Cha Monforte. Rural Urban News
APRIL 5
Former Davao del Norte Governor and Tagum City mayoralty candidate Gelacio “Yayong” Gementiza (independent) has claimed that it is him and City Mayor Rey “Chiong Oy” Uy who are racing closely in surveys and not “Cee O versus Olano” as claimed by a survey reported the other week.
He said that another survey made by an “independent group” showed that result that “I got 2,835 votes while Cee O got 2,913 votes.”
“The one percent margin is too small for me to easily beat him (Uy) for the third time,” added Gementiza.
The former governor did not, however, divulge to Rural Urban News the group who made the survey adding that he did neither commission for it.
“Somebody funded the survey and I was just furnished of the survey results,” he said in vernacular.
“This is better sign because in 2001 when I beat him in city mayoralty fight I got only 20 percent while Cee O got 80 percent in a survey made when the election was still far, while the survey close before the election day I got already 30 percent against Cee O’s 70 percent. In that election I won, but that was year 2001,” the former governor reminisced.
He added that he believed on surveys saying that by its results he could know where he was weak.
He said that the survey revealing a close fight between him and Uy was made the other week and it covered eight barangays, which he did not also divulge to the Rural Urban News.
He bared though that half of the barangays covered are in the poblacion while the other half are rural barangays.
The survey has a total of 9,693 respondents, 2,835 or 29.25 percent of whom favored Gementiza, while Mayor Uy got 2,913 or 30 percent.
At 1 percent margin, Gementiza and Uy were statistically tied considering the plus or minus 2 percent margin of error.
In the same survey claimed by Gementiza, Olano 2,115 or 21.8 percent, while there were 1,830 or 18.9 percent who were undecided.
Last week, one weekly in the city reported that a survey, that it did not mention who made it, showed Uy and Olano to be in neck-to-neck race, with the mayor still establishing a lead among all mayoralty rivals in the city. Gementiza placed a far third in the survey.
But Gementiza said: “basig survey-survey lang to ni Olano ug (Davao del Norte Electric Cooperative OIC GM Allan) Laniba”. Laniba was identified to that weekly.
Gementiza though said that surveys in the city “tend to favor the administration kay mahadlok ang mga tawo nga gi survey (survey respondents fear to talk). That’s my secret of winning”. He did not elaborate.
Mayor Uy said, on the other hand, that he believed on surveys nga tinud-anay “to know the real picture” of one’s standing during the campaign, even if one would not commission a professional pollster firm.
For his part, Cong. Olano said that he believed on surveys “depending on who made it’ and especially if it is scientifically done.
But in Tagum City , he said, surveys are not so reliable citing his observation that people would tend to keep silent, “di mosulti nga Olano, di pod mosulti nga Cee O”.
“It’s nice to look up survey results, but one reliable survey I’m always considering is that one commissioned by Governor Rodolfo del Rosario,” he said, saying that it is done by professionals from Davao City.
Olano however has observed a strange phenomenon of high percentage of undecided in this election period.
He said that the present 27-percent undecided is “so high, morag imposible dapat baba na at this time” in reference to a second-wave survey results he happened to know of.
“The high number of undecided voters in the survey would only imply that there is fear among the people to tell who their candidates are,” he added.
But also mayoralty candidate ex-cop and businessman Cesar Cuntapay said that generally he did not believe on surveys “made by someone else” adding that what should preoccupy candidates “is just to work hard during the campaign, do your thing as I’ll also do mine.” (Cha Monforte/Rural Urban News)
Filed under: Gelacio “Yayong” Gementiza, Gelacio “Yayong” Gementiza
Recent Comments