Pinoys in UK’s Royal Mail want Villar for President

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LONDON - Key members of the Philippine Association of Royal Mail Employees conducted a survey among its overseas absentee voters (OAVs) to ascertain the political awareness of its members and find out who they are most likely to vote for in the May 10 presidential elections.

The survey was conducted at the Mount Pleasant Processing/Distribution and East Central Delivery Offices in London, days before the annual Valentine’s party celebration of the group, which has more than 500 active members to include the retired, former employees of the Royal Mail.

“We thought to test the awareness on how the Filipino absentee voters in the UK are aware of the political situations in the Philippines and the candidates that are running for president,” said Doy Palencia, founding member of the Philippine Association of Royal Mail Employees in the UK.

A total of 250 survey questionnaires were distributed to the night shift members, of which 214 were returned. The assessment and counting were headed by Palencia, with 2 non-members acting as observers.

The survey asked, ‘Who would you prefer to be the next President of the Republic of the Philippines in the coming May 2010 Presidential elections?’, and also asked respondents to rank the first 3 preferences.

Nacionalista Party standard-bearer Manny Villar topped the votes with 81 points or 38%, followed by Sen. Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III (Liberal Party), 34%, Joseph Estrada (Partido ng Masang Pilipino), 14%, and, Gilbert Teodoro (Lakas Kampi CMD), 9%, and others, 5%.

Palencia explained that Villar is the preferred candidate by the majority of the members because they think he has more administrative and management experience compared with Aquino.

Philippine Association of Royal Mail Employees President Leonardo Paule said they go beyond popularity and are in the process of scrutinizing what the candidates can bring to the table for the much-needed political change in the Philippines.

“How can you run a country and your people if you don’t know anything? So (you) must know something, dapat may talino. Kaya sabi ko, kung popularity contest lang at nag artista tapos president na, hindi yun ang hinahanap namin,” said Paule.

The UK has 8,553 overseas absentee voters, with London having 2,832.