Defense Secretary Gilbert Teodoro has ascended to the top five presidential aspirants in a latest nationwide opinion poll, Malacañang announced on Wednesday.

Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita said Teodoro has climbed up the list of presidential contenders a week after he was endorsed by the administration’s national executive committee as presidential candidate in next year’s elections.

But Ermita declined to reveal the ranking of Teodoro and his other rivals until the survey results by a private polling agency are official. He also declined to say which group commissioned the latest opinion poll. Included in the survey of presidential bets are Teodoro, Senator Manuel Villar and Senator Benigno Aquino, former President Joseph Estrada, Senator Chiz Escudero, Vice President Noli de Castro, and Senator Richard Gordon.

Ermita said he could not yet say who topped the latest survey since the rating of Villar and Aquino have not yet been finalized. “Over the span of one week,the survey figures show that Secretary Teodoro has gone up so fast from where he was,” an excited Ermita in a news conference in the Palace.

“Secretary Teodoro is already next to Senator Escudero and even higher than the others who used to rate high. He is very near already to former President Estrada,” he added.

Senator Manuel Villar Jr. has dominated the most past surveys of presidential bets, followed by Estrada and Escudero. Senator Benigno Aquino Jr., the standard bearer of Liberal Party, on the other hand, has slowly grabbed the top slot in a recent survey in Luzon.