Santiago tops social media polls

Sen. Miriam Defensor Santiago
(Photo from Sen. Miriam Defensor Santiago’s Official Facebook Page)

MANILA—Presidential candidate Sen. Miriam Santiago was chosen by netizens as their presidential bet in two polls run by the social media site, Facebook.

In a poll conducted by the official Facebook page of the Polytechnic University of the Philippines, Sen. Santiago garnered 64 percent of the votes of the 135, 622 respondents.

Sen. Grace Poe ranked second in the poll with 14.35 percent of the votes, followed by Mar Roxas who received 11.64 percent and Vice President Jejomar Binay who got 7.26 percent of the votes. The university conducted their survey from October 16 until October 25.

Santiago also received the largest votes in a poll conducted by a Facebook page titled Filipino History, News and Classic Stories. She received 42.35 percent of the votes.

Santiago who has not released campaign advertisements on television, radio and print has released a statement regarding her popularity in social media polls.

“Social media is the key to winning the 2016 elections. Traditional politicians can always pay for advertisements, or even pre-election surveys, but no amount of money can silence Filipinos on social media,” the senator said in a statement released on Facebook.

The senator also denounced ‘early campaigning’ done by other candidates.

“A protracted campaign period corrupts elected officials because it allows them to spend more and more money for ads. They are bound to steal that money back when they are in office,” Santiago was quoted as saying in a Philippine Star report.

“In addition, poor candidates always lose their chance to serve the public to richer and more popular candidates. In the absence of a law that will break this cycle, social media is the equalizer,” she added.