Rama unbothered by outcome of pre-election surveys

Cebu City Mayor Mike Rama | CDND File photo

CEBU CITY, Philippines — Election surveys posted online do not necessarily reflect the sentiments of the Cebuanos.

With this in mind, Cebu City Mayor Michael Rama he is not at all worried that he only ranked second in recent surveys done by the RP- Mission and Development Foundation Inc. and Pulse Phil.

“No, we are not concerned. You know me, my party works together. We work hard and we will win,” Rama said in a press conference on Monday, March 7.

Rama said the real survey happens on election day when Cebu City residents cast their votes for their chosen candidates.

And to prepare for judgement day, he and the rest of the Barug – PDP Laban candidates are working hard to court the support of Cebu City voters down to the sitio level.

“We are intelligent voters in the City of Cebu. We are not getting our results from heaven, we are getting them down to the sitio level. We don’t have to tell what are our political approaches, our strategies, what is very clear is that we are on the go with hardwork,” he said.

Survey Results

On March 1, RP- Mission and Development Foundation Inc. released survey results which showed that Councilor Dave Tumulak is leading in the mayoral race.

Survey results of RP- Mission and Development Foundation Inc. for the mayoral race in Cebu City.

In the said survey, Rama ranked second with former councilor and Bando Osmena Pundok Kauswagan (BOPK) candidate Margot Osmeña was on the third sport.

A few days later, another survey by a group called Pulse Phil Asia was also posted online showing that  Osmeña was the top choice among survey respondents.

Rama ranked second closely followed by Tumulak, an independent candidate, on the third spot.

Osmena’s runningmate, Liga ng mga Barangay – Cebu City Chapter President and Kasambagan Captain Franklyn Ong, also led in the vice mayoral race.

Questions Raised

Several questions, including those coming from the different political camps, were raised as to the validity and the methodology used in the two surveys.

Tumulak, for his part, said the Pulse Phil survey was not as reliable as the survey made by RP- Mission and Development Foundation Inc. because of the group’s failure to property explain how they came up with their results.

“Pila ramay estorya, Pebrero 19, 2022 nahimo na kining PULSE PHIL SURVEY nga adunay 5,078 ka followers!” he said.

Barug Initiated Survey

In a separate interview, Rama said, his group also commissioned their own survey and all of their candidates were doing well in the said survey.

Rama begged off from elaborating on the outcome of their survey because he did not want to share information, especially with their opponents, as to which barangays they have a stronghold.

Also, Rama said he does not want to make their survey results a reason for him and his partymates to already be complacent especially since the campaign period for local candidates is yet to start on March 25.

He said that the mere release of survey results is not enough to sway voters.  The real challenge, he said, is on how they will do their groundworks.

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/ dcb