Liberal Party standard-bearer Sen. Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III continued to top the list of presidential candidates in the latest survey conducted by the Social Weather Stations (SWS), but Nacionalista Party bet Sen. Manny Villar has further narrowed the gap to just seven percentage points. The SWS poll, commissioned by BusinessWorld, found that 42 percent of Filipinos would vote for Aquino while 35 percent would choose Villar. The survey, conducted from Jan. 21 to 24, used face-to-face interviews of 2,100 adult respondents. Aquino’s lead over Villar was 19 percentage points in Dec. 5 to 10 and 11 percent in Dec. 27 to 28.

Before the filing of candidacy papers, Aquino’s lead over the rest of the aspirants was more than 20 percentage points.

He had a 27 percentage-point lead over Villar (Aquino 47 percent; Villar 20 percent) in the Nov. 4 to 8 SWS survey.

A press release issued by the LP yesterday showed that the seven percentage-point difference between Aquino’s and Villar’s ratings translate to about three million votes if all 49 million registered Filipino voters will vote on May 10.

It also pointed out that “the full impact and implication of the Senate C-5 report...had not yet sunk into the consciousness of the voters,” and that “the numbers will still change in favor of Aquino and against Villar.”

Former President Joseph Estrada placed third with a rating of 13 percent while former Defense secretary Gilbert Teodoro Jr. ranked fourth with four percent.

Sen. Richard Gordon and Jesus is Lord founder Bro. Eddie Villanueva got two percent each.

The other presidential bets received less than one percent of votes. They were Sen. Jamby Madrigal (0.4 percent); Vetellano Acosta (0.3 percent); John Carlos de los Reyes (0.2 percent); and Nicanor Perlas (0.1 percent).

Villar welcomed the latest SWS survey results, saying this gives him more drive to campaign harder for the presidency.

He expects his detractors to resort to more drastic measures to stop him from closing in on Aquino.

“I am happy about the survey that I continue to get good ratings and the margin is getting closer. This is very inspiring for me and my colleagues. This shows that our fellow countrymen are starting to know who we are, what we have done in the past and how we can help in the future,” Villar said.

“This also shows that we are not distracted by the issues being hurled against (me),” said Villar, adding that the C-5 Road issue has been repeated a number of times and the Filipino people may have grown tired of it.