DAGUPAN CITY - Pangasinan proves to be an administration bailiwick as nine of its senatorial candidates are being favored by the voters for the coming May elections, based on a survey conducted by a reputable Manila polling firm.

Using two survey methods provincewide, face-to-face/house-to-house and campus mock poll, PROBERZ CONSULTANCY conducted survey on March 12-13 that showed its 9-3 in favor of Team Unity candidates in Pangasinan.

In the house to house method, the top 12, according to their ranking are: re-electionist Manny Villar, tie for number two and three are Mike Defensor and re-electionist Ralph Recto, Francis Escudero was fourth, sharing 5 and 6 slots are Tito Sotto, Loren Legarda, Miguel Zubiri and Tessie Oreta, ranking 8 and 9 are Prospero Pichay, Alan Peter Cayetano and Chavit Singson, number 10 is Vic Magsaysay, re-electionist Francis Pangilinan is number 11, while slots 12 and 13 are re-electionist Joker Arroyo, Sonia Roco, Noynoy Aquino and re-electionist Edgardo Angara.

Cesar Montano (14th), John Osmeña (15th), Koko Pimentel is 16th, Gringo Honasan and re-electionist Ping Lacson shared 17th and 18th slots, while 19th was Nikki Coseteng and Antonio Trillanes and Richard Gomez were 20th and 21st.

For the campus mock poll method, tops are Defensor, Legarda and Sotto for second and third slots, Cayetano is fourth, Villar fifth, Recto sixth while 7 and 8 were Zubiri, Arroyo and Escudero, followed by Oreta on the ninth and 10th for Pichay while 11 and 12 were shared by Singson, Pangilinan, Magsaysay and Angara.

Also Recto was 13th, Aquino 14th, Osmeña and Montano were 15th and 16th, Pimentel 17th, Lacson 18th, Honasan and Coseteng shared the 19th adn 20th slots.

According to Prof. Alfred Soleta, a tenured professor of Political Science at the University of Sto. Tomas, who conducted the survey, among the opposition candidates, it is Villar who appears to have the edge in local media placements such as 10-minute radio interviwe three times a week plus his national and regional ads on television.

On the other hand, the front page stories in favor of Batangas gubernatorial bet Mayor Vilma Santos had a positive effect on her husband Ralph Recto who landed 2nd in this survey.

Also on second place is Mike Defensor of Team Unity. It is widely perceived that Defensor’s good showing in Pangasinan province is the result of his established network among the young voters of the province.

In the Campus Mock poll, Defensor is tops giving rise to his endearment to the local young voters.

A total 388 calls were made in the interview Centers namely: Alaminos City, Lingayen, San Carlos City, Dagupan City, Urdaneta City and Rosales town at the average of 65 interviews per area.

The principal sampling method used was the multi-stage, area probability (MSAP) method which is the standard being used by Philippine pollsters. Interview application was skip-interval of 4-5 houses to mitigate bias;

The survey was conducted on a confidence level of 98% based on the question templates or frames and with an error margin of 5% more or less.

On the campus mock survey, a one-page questionnaire was distriuted among the seven campuses of the Pangasinan State University namely: Lingayen, Binmaley, San Carlos, Urdaneta, Infanta, Bayambang and Sta. Maria.

Proberz Consultancy had conducted nationwide poll in the 1992 presidential campaign, senatorial campaign in 1995 national posts, congressional campaign of all the 212 congressional districts and all chartered cities in the country in 1995 with accurate forecast in 205 of the 212 congressional districts.

It also conducted survey in the 1998 presidential campaign and in the 1998 senatorial campaign and selected congressional campaign polls in the same year. It also did the same poll survey int eh Pangasinan gubernatorial campaign.

It also had its public opinion poll in the impeachment trial of former President Joseph Estrada.

Also, PROBERZ conducted its pre-election and exit polls 2004 national elections where it predicted accurately the outcome of the elections.