ILOILO City – Cong. Jerry Treñas dominated the eighth and final survey for mayor here as conducted by the prestigious Random Access Consultants, Inc. (RACI) from April 27 to 28, 2019.
As in the past seven RACI surveys commissioned by DyFM Bombo Radyo, Treñas bagged the majority of the mock votes of 600 face-to-face respondents from 60 barangays randomly chosen in the seven districts of Arevalo, City Proper, Jaro, La Paz, Lapuz, Mandurriao, and Molo. He scored 376, representing 62.7 percent of the respondents.
Trailing way behind on second place is the incumbent mayor, Jose Espinosa III, with 163 votes or 27.2 percent; followed by Dr. Pacita Gonzalez with 42 or seven percent; Mel Carreon, six votes or one percent; Steve Abitang, five votes or one percent; Rudy Bantolo and Efren Gimeo with one vote each.
For vice mayor, Treñas’ running mate under Team Uswag, Jeffrey Ganzon, remains the frontrunner with 327 votes or 54.5 percent of the surveyed respondents; followed by Plaridel Nava with 178 votes or 29.7 percent and R. Leone Gerochi with 81 or 13.5 percent.
In the congressional race, it’s also Team Uswag’s Julienne “Jam-jam” Baronda leading with 356 votes or 59.3 percent; followed by Joshua Alim, 192 or 32 percent; and Perla Zulueta, 42 or seven percent.
The aforesaid survey results are contradictory to those of the survey released by Espinosa’s camp, allegedly conducted by the Statistics Research Center (SRC) on April 16-17, 2019. The survey gave Espinosa the plurality of 44.7 percent of the alleged 720 respondents from 72 barangays; Treñas, second with 37.5 percent and Gonzalez, third with 14.3 percent.
FAKE SURVEY FROM FAKE GROUP?
Did Mayor Espinosa really top the latest survey for mayor done by the Statistics Research Center (SRC)?
“A hoax,” said Treñas when asked for comment yesterday. “There is no such local pollster as Statistics Research Center. The only authentic one is Random Access Consultants, Inc. [RACI].”
Treñas debunked the survey as a “desperate attempt to twist reality” and noted how it tried to make the results credible. He cited, as an obvious and obnoxious example of that attempt, the exclusion of Espinosa’s allies from the winning column.
Thus, Espinosa’s running mate for vice mayor, R Leone Gerochi, was “sacrificed” to third place with 19.8 percent, far behind Ganzon (46.1 percent) and Nava (33.05 percent).
Espinosa’s team mate for congresswoman, Zulueta (23.8 percent) likewise lagged farther behind Alim (38.8 percent) and Baronda (35.9 percent).
SRC’s list of “leading” councilors also showed a mixture of candidates from the camps of National Unity Party (NUP), Nacionalista Party and the AlGoNa.
A research on the internet confirmed the congressman’s “fake” impression of the SRC. The nearest “relative” on Google is identified as the Statistical Research and Training Center (SRTC), the defunct research and training arm of the government-run Philippine Statistical System (PSS).
“The only reliable local pollster,” Treñas stressed, “is RACI. In its long existence, it has a near-perfect way of determining election results.”
RACI is run by personnel from the University of the Philippines Visayas, with Professor Liza Baliao as president.
RACI enumerators are very visible because they go around the barangays in uniform, with complete identification cards.
PERFORMANCE-ORIENTED
Asked for comment on his consistent lead, the congressman said, “The Ilonggos are performance-oriented. They have seen me walk my talk.”
Ilonggos remember that, before he became congressman, Treñas had served as councilor; and then for three terms as mayor from 2004 to 2010.
In 1992, he coined the slogan “Think Big! Think Iloilo!”
In 2006, he launched the slogan “Iloilo City: Premier City by 2015.” There is now no doubt he did the ground work for making it come true.
“I predict that by the year 2028,” Treñas said, “given good governance, Iloilo City would have inevitably gained national recognition as one of the top three best urbanized cities in the country in terms of livability, competitiveness, viability and governance practice.
“For the city to further prosper, we have to keep the people healthy and well-equipped to earn a living. We have to build a hospital for the poor, upgrade our public markets to level up with the malls, complete drainage projects, build high-rise condominiums as relocation sites and build senior-citizen and youth centers.”
He said that whenever he runs for a public office, he prepares a program of work to be strictly followed, which he calls “roadmap”.
His program of work for the forthcoming May 13 election is briefly summarized in the acronym “WHEELS”, which stands for “Welfare, Health, Education, Environment, Livelihood, Sustainability.”
The “W” in “WHEELS” would stress public welfare, safety, emergency response, effective drainage system, housing projects for the poor and traffic management.
“H” for “Health and Sanitation” is aimed at improving access to medical and dental services, properly maintained city toilets, potable water and sustained feeding program especially for children.
“E” is for education that would enhance assistance to public schools and day-care centers, upgrade the Iloilo City Community College (ICCC) and Technical Institute of Iloilo City (TIIC) and provide continuing education.
The other “E” for “Environmental management” would rationalize the Esplanade operation, improvement of all plazas and coordination with the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR), Land Transportation Office (LTO) and the Department of Health (DOH).
“L” for “livelihood” means finding ways and means to provide employment and livelihood opportunities for the poor; and would find ways and means to intensify tourism and investment promotions; promote Iloilo City as meetings, incentives, conferences, exhibitions (MICE) capital; intensify programs for employment, entrepreneurship and livelihood trainings; and modernize slaughter house and public markets.
“S” is for “Sustainability” or continuous delivery of all government programs, projects, activities and services./PN
