Liberal Party (LP) standard- bearers Senators Benigno Simeon “Noynoy” Aquino III and Manuel “Mar” Roxas II emerged as the top choices of University of Santo Tomas (UST) students for the presidential and vice presidential race based on two separate pre-election surveys conducted recently in the 399-year-old Catholic university.

The university-wide polls conducted by the Research Cluster for Culture, Education and Social Issues and The Varsitarian, the official student publication of UST, have shown almost identical results with Aquino garnering 34.7 percent in the second “Political Opinion of the Youth Survey” conducted by the Research Cluster and 36.4 percent in the Varsitarian survey.

Meanwhile, Roxas got 46.3 percent, and 40.9 percent in the Research Cluster and Varsitarian survey, while re electionist Sen. Miriam Defensor-Santiago earned 8.92 percent and nine percent, respectively, making her the students’ top choice among the senatorial candidates.

Among the other presidential aspirants, it was administration bet Gilbert “Gibo” Teodoro of the Lakas-Kampi- CMD who placed second in both surveys with 33.5 percent and 31.4 percent, respectively.

Nacionalista Party’s Senator Manuel “Manny” Villar Jr. ranked third in the Research Cluster survey with 10.3 percent, and fourth in the Varsitarian survey with 9.3 percent, while Sen. Richard Gordon of the Bagumbayan Party got 7.7 percent and ranked fourth place in the Research Cluster poll, and 13.8 percent that landed him at third place for the Varsitarian survey.

As for the vice presidential candidates, Roxas was followed by former Metro Manila Development Authority (MMDA) Chairman Bayani Fernando who got 18.3 percent (second place) in the youth survey and 19.1 percent (third place) in the Varsitarian poll, while Makati Mayor Jejomar Binay had 14.4 percent (third place), and 22.5 percent (second place), respectively.

Other presidential candidates ranked as follows in the Research Cluster survey: Eddie Villanueva fifth at 1.7 percent, former President Joseph “Erap” Estrada, sixth, 1.5 percent; environmentalist Nicanor Perlas, seventh, 0.7 percent; Olongapo City Councilor John Carlos “JC” de los Reyes at eighth with 0.2 percent, and Sen. Ma. Ana Consuelo “Jamby” Madrigal, ninth, with 0.1 percent.

The Varsitarian poll had Estrada and Villanueva at fifth place with 0.9 percent, and Madrigal (0.4 percent, seventh place). De los Reyes had no vote, while 6.8 percent abstained. Perlas was not included in the choices since the survey was conducted just after the Commission on Elections (Comelec) disqualified him for supposed lack of capability to run a national campaign. He was later reinstated as a candidate.