Liberal Party's presidential candidate, Sen. Noynoy Aquino, is still number one in the latest Social Weather Stations (SWS) survey with 59 percent of the respondents saying he should succeed Pres. Gloria Arroyo, just one point shy of the previous SWS survey in September. "Given the survey's margin of error of plus or minus 3 percentage points, Aquino's rating… was statistically unchanged," Inquirer.net reports.

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Sen. Manny Villar of the Nacionalista Party is second with 45 percent, up from 37 percent, while Sen. Francis Escudero, who resigned from the Nationalist People's Coalition and gave up his presidential bid on October 28, came in third with 27 percent.

Conducted on November 4 to 8 before the political hopefuls filed their candidacy, the nationwide survey did not give the 1,200 adult respondents a list of names, but asked them to come up with up to three names. Puerto Princesa City Mayor Edward Hagedorn commissioned the survey.

Aquino's ratings in the SWS survey are a far cry from his 31 percent share in the recent survey of the Issues and Advocacy Center (The Center). Aquino says the SWS survey showed "his 'base' of supporters were 'solid.'" He adds, "If you're the first choice of many, it would be unlikely that they would make you their second choice. There are others who are also on the list who have indicated their withdrawal so we'll be getting from those numbers too."

"The death of President Cory made people realize that they now want a leader who is clean and not corrupt… It's not just the perception of integrity of Noynoy that endears him to the people, but also their awareness that curbing corruption means more basic services for them," Butch Abad, Aquino's campaign manager, told PhilStar.com.

Though the results are favorable for him, Aquino also says, "[The] choose-three [question] tends to inflate your numbers. The better gauge will be the next survey." His running mate, Sen. Mar Roxas, whose ratings dropped from 12 percent to 3 percent in the SWS survey, agrees since the choose-three survey tends to "inflate the numbers of the second and third choices."

Second placer Villar said in a statement, "With five more months to go before the presidential elections, it's still too early to say how the voting would go. But we are very glad with this result showing that we are not losing the support of the people," Inquirer.net reports.

Former Pres. Joseph Estrada got an 18 percent share, former Defense Sec. Gilbert "Gibo" Teodoro 8 percent, Sen. Loren Legarda 4 percent, Vice President Noli de Castro 3 percent and an "unspecified" Aquino 2 percent, ManilaTimes.net reports. Makati Mayor Jejomar Binay, Sen. Panfilo Lacson, Bro. Eddie Villanueva and former Metro Manila Development Authority (MMDA) Chair Bayani Fernando each got 1 percent.