Senator Manuel Villar Jr. led another survey as the likely successor of President Arroyo in the 2010 presidential elections.

In the nationwide survey conducted by the Issues and Advocacy Center (The Center) from Aug. 18 to 23, 2009, Villar was the most popular choice among 1,200 respondents, garnering 20 percent of the votes.

Villar is closely followed by former President Joseph Estrada and Senator Francis Escudero, who were tied in second and third places, with 16 percent.

Included in the top six were Senator Manuel “Mar” Roxas II with 15 percent, Vice President Noli de Castro with 12 percent and Senator Loren Legarda with 8 percent.

The Center used two sampling methods in its survey, the 13-way presidential sampling and in the nine-way survey containing a reduced list of nine probable presidential aspirants who may run in the May 10, 2010 national elections.

Center Director Ed Malay said that the questions asked in both samplings were similar only that the list of names of presidential aspirants that were shown to the respondents were reduced to just nine names in the second sampling method.

Malay said the 20 percent garnered by Villar is a significant jump from the 14 percent that the Senator generated in the May 2009 survey of The Center.

He said this could be traced to the television and radio advertisements the Senator have placed in several major broadcasting networks throughout the country.