Unfazed by the recent poll survey results showing Sen. Manuel Roxas III leading the pack of vice presidential candidates, the Nationalist People’s Coalition (NPC) predicted that party bet to the position, Sen. Loren Legarda, will eventually emerge winner in the vice presidential race.

Valenzuela Rep. Rex Gatchalian, NPC spokesman, maintained that Legarda remains the “one to beat because of her proven track record.”

“The current lead of Loren’s closest rival in surveys is not insurmountable. And I predict that Loren’s rating will steadily rise as the increasingly mature Filipino voter realizes that proven competence is more important than mere promises, and that proven leadership is more important than family background or political pedigree,” Gatchalian said.

He said Roxas has peaked early, thus his popularity rating will be on a downward trend starting the campaign period up to election day.

The NPC, the second largest political party in the country, has neither fielded nor supported a presidential candidate but allowed Legarda to partner with Nacionalista Party standard bearer Sen. Manuel Villar in the 2010 national elections.

Gatchalian chided Legarda’s rivals in the vice presidential race for “groping in the dark” and “lacking a clear focus in their campaign.”

In contrast, Gatchalian said, “Loren has been an achiever all her life, a humanitarian and staunch environmentalist, all of which make her supremely qualified to occupy the second highest
elective position.”

Meanwhile, Prof. Prospero De Vera, a political analyst from the University of the Philippines, in an interview with a major television network, claimed that Legarda would get the second highest post in the country “because of her energy and long-standing concern for the environment and climate change.”

“They are statistically tied already,” said De Vera, referring to Legarda and Roxas. “I would not be surprised if she would actually later overtake her closest rival and win [the election].”

De Vera stressed that the “problem” with her closest rival is that he has “failed to redefine himself” and that he is known only to people as the presidential candidate who “slid down to become a vice presidential candidate.”

“What else he represents as a person is not clear to a lot of voters.
He needs to work on a brand and on a singular message.

Otherwise, he is bound to lose to Loren,” said the analyst.

He added, “Loren, on the other hand, already has a brand. She was already talking about climate change, about the disasters.
She is not seen simply as a vice presidential candidate. She has a brand, she has personality.”

The UP professor pointed out that Legarda has always been an energetic campaigner, saying that she, as an opposition stalwart, overcame an initial big lead of administration bet Noli de Castro in the 2004 vice-presidential race.

“In 2004, at the start of the campaign, Noli had a 10-percentage points lead over her, but in the end it was just something like 3 points,” De Vera said.