PNS — “THEY have not seen the best of me.”
Thus said former President Joseph Estrada in a campaign sortie in Parañaque the other day as he continued to express his elation over his improving ratings in the surveys of the Social Weather Stations (SWS) and Pulse Asia.
Estrada said, the trend, even in the previous elections, is that the number one and two in the initial surveys are usually going down when the elections got nearer.
“Eh, sino bumaba, ’di ba sila? Basta tayo, tumaas,” Estrada told reporters.
“They haven’t seen the best (of me in this campaign),” he added.
The former president, despite still being in the third place in the recent survey of SWS and Pulse Asia, said he was happy because his percentage is improving even as his Pwersa ng Masang Pilipino party is lacking in campaign funds.
“As you can see, ako ang pinakamaliit ang expenses sa TV ads,” Estrada noted, adding that he was only sixth place in terms of top spender on television commercials among the presidential candidates.
In a recent report from the AGB Nielsen, Villar was recorded as the top spender in TV commercials with more than P1-billion worth of infomercials, while administration bet former Defense Sec. Gilbert Teodoro Jr. is next with close to P500 million in spending; Sen. Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino with almost P300 million; Sen. Richard Gordon with P244 million; Eddie Villanueva, P90 million; and Estrada with P84 million.
Pulse Asia, in its late February survey results, had Estrada gaining six percentage points; SWS reported in its Business World-commissioned survey that Estrada gained two percentage points.
Estrada noted that if his numbers continue to go up at the rate they are going, “he’d have a high enough rating to win it all come May.”
“Tapos na sila,” Estrada said.