Metro Manila, Philippines – Senators Raffy Tulfo, Robin Padilla and Alan Peter Cayetano, along with Pasig City Mayor Vico Sotto, are statistically tied at the top of a new survey on voting preferences for the 2028 senatorial elections, OCTA Research reported Monday, Oct. 19.
Results of OCTA’s third-quarter Tugon ng Masa survey showed Tulfo receiving the highest voting preference at 47 percent, followed by Padilla 45 percent, Cayetano 44 percent, and Sotto 42 percent.
Despite the differences in their percentages, OCTA said all four shared a rank range of first to fourth, meaning their relative positions could not be statistically distinguished.
Former Senator Grace Poe and Davao City Mayor Sebastian “Baste” Duterte followed with 36 percent each, while Senator Loren Legarda received 31 percent.
The survey was conducted from Sept. 28 to Oct. 4 through face-to-face interviews with 1,200 adults nationwide. It had a margin of error of ±3 percentage points at the 95 percenr confidence level.
Other survey preferences
The survey also showed Makati Mayor Abby Binay with 29 percent, followed by actor and government official Mark Lapid 28 percent, and Senator Francis “Chiz” Escudero at 27 percent.
Education Secretary Sonny Angara and former Sen. Manny Pacquiao each received 25 percent, followed by Ben Tulfo at 23 percent and Sen. Jinggoy Estrada 22 percent.
Former Senate President Aquilino “Koko” Pimentel III and former presidential legal counsel Salvador Panelo both registered 20 percent.
Senator Mark Villar received 19 percent, while former Senator Gringo Honasan and former Senator. Francis Tolentino each obtained 18 percent.
OCTA cautioned against interpreting the percentages as fixed rankings because a number of prospective candidates had overlapping statistical rank ranges, particularly around the remaining positions in the preliminary top 12.
Changes
Compared with OCTA’s second quarter survey conducted July 4 to 11, Padilla’s voting preference declined from 53.9 percent to 45 percent.
Tulfo’s score was flat, moving from 47.4 percent to 47 percent.
Cayetano also registered a slight change from 45.4 percent to 44 percent, while Sotto was unchanged at 42 percent.
Poe’s number declined from 44.5 percent to 36 percent, while Legarda’s dropped from 39 percent to 31 percent.
Pacquiao declined nine points from 34.5 percent to 25 percent.
Meanwhile, Angara’s voting preference rose from 19.2 percent to 25 percent, as well as Escudero from 23.2 percent to 27 percent.
OCTA Research said the findings represent a snapshot of voter preferences more than a year before the filing of certificates of candidacy for the 2028 elections.
Respondents were presented with a hypothetical list of prospective candidates and allowed to choose up to 12 names.
