ZAMBOANGA CITY, Philippines: A pre-election survey held secretly among local government employees showed Senator Benigno Aquino III leading in the presidential race against three others.
The survey was conducted on 1,000 city government officials and employees from Oct. 25 to Nov. 7 and whose results were made public on Sunday by a group called the Concerned City Government Employees.
“This survey was done by concerned city government officials and employees. We cannot divulge our identity due to serious repercussions. We expect many politicians to question the result of this survey, especially those who got low scores.” “Some of us might even be forced to discredit this survey in public. But we hope you will allow the people of Zamboanga to know the sentiments of those working in the City Government of Zamboanga, and let them rate for themselves the credibility of this survey,” the group said in a statement. One of the poll questions asked the city employees who they will vote if elections were held today. The pollsters said Aquino topped the survey among presidential candidates with 299 votes against ex-President Joseph Estrada who got 154 votes; Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro, 192; and Senator Manuel Villar, 226.
