Zulueta remains at Top 3 in tight race for SP seats
The time-tested adage that "You can never put a good man down" was proven true once again. Only this time, it should have been written as "You can never put a good lady legislator down."
Despite intensified efforts by the other camp to undermine her chances for reelection in the coming May 14 polls, Iloilo City Councilor Perla Zulueta has been emerging as among the consistent frontrunners in surveys conducted by independent survey firms commissioned by leading radio stations here in the city. Only recently, the lady councilor from Molo once again proved the growing support of Ilonggo voters to her reelection bid by coming out as one of the Top 3 'councilorables' in a survey conducted by the reputable Random Access Consultants, Inc. for dyFM Bombo Radyo Iloilo.
In the said survey, conducted from the period March 22-27, 2007 among 1,100 respondents at least 18 years of age and representing 60 of the city's 180 barangays, Councilor Zulueta was a strong third with 27.3%, a mere nine percentage points separating her from the survey topnotcher.
Aside from Zulueta, also having strong chances of being inside the winning circle of 12 from among the Genuine Opposition-PDP Laban line-up was former Iloilo City councilor Rolando Dabao, who was tied for 12th and 13th places with 17.3%.
Interestingly, three names who didn't file their respective Certificates of Candidacy (COC) for councilor barged inside the Magic 12 list--former Iloilo City councilor Mandrie Malabor, who is at fourth place behind Zulueta with 26.8%; former vice-mayor Victor Facultad, who placed 10th with 21,4%; and lawyer Romeo Gerochi, who is at ninth place with 22.8%.
This, Bombo Radyo officials said, can be explained by the fact that the survey was conducted on the week prior to the Commission on Elections' (Comelec) deadline for the filing of COCs for local candidates wishing to seek elective positions in the coming May 14 senatorial and local elections.
This also gives other councilor candidates of GO-PDP Laban a solid chance of entering the Magic 12, especially those who are from 13th to 18th places.
Fiscalizer at SP
Meanwhile, when reached for comment, Councilor Zulueta, who earned the moniker "The Iron Lady of the City Council" for her no-nonsense stance against graft and corruption in government, said she is happy to know that she is among the frontrunners in surveys with only about a month left before the elections, "despite the efforts by the other group to malign me and undermine my reelection bid."
"With the results of this survey and the others that preceded it showing me at no lower than fifth place, it could be an indication that the people of the city of Iloilo may have finally realized the importance of a fiscalizer and a watchdog in the city legislature. Finally, they are seeing me not as an obstructionist--like what the other camp had been accusing me of for the last several years--but someone who is only after the safeguarding of taxpayers' money," Zulueta quipped.
"Let me assure the people of the city of Iloilo that I would continue to look after their hard-earned money through the taxes they pay and to see to it that these are spent wisely and for their benefit," she further averred.
To note, Zulueta had been consistently placing in the top rungs of surveys conducted by several media outlets in the city, and at one time even led the race for the 12 Sangguniang Panlungsod seats for several weeks.