Erwin Tulfo reclaims lead among Senate bets in final SWS survey
ACT-CIS Party list Rep. Erwin Tulfo has taken the lead in the 2025 senatorial race, overtaking Sen. Bong Go in the final preelection survey conducted by Social Weather Stations (SWS) and commissioned by the Stratbase Group.
The survey, conducted from May 2 to 6 and released on Thursday, showed Tulfo reclaiming the top spot with 45 percent of intended votes, closely followed by Go with 43 percent.
The rankings also reflected notable movements among other candidates, with some rising while others slipping down the list.
Former Sen. Vicente “Tito” Sotto ranked third with 37 percent, climbing to replace Sen. Lito Lapid, who is tied in the fourth and fifth spots with broadcaster Ben Tulfo at 34 percent.
The broadcast journalist made a strong return to the top five after dropping to the seventh and eighth positions in the previous survey.
Improved ranking
Former Sen. Panfilo “Ping” Lacson and Makati Mayor Abby Binay also saw improvements in their rankings.
Lacson climbed to sixth place with 32 percent, up from 11th in the previous survey, while Binay, now in the seventh and eighth spots with 31 percent, improved from ninth place and is tied with Sen. Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa, who dropped one spot.
Sen. Pia Cayetano, who previously held the fourth and fifth spots, fell to ninth and 10th, with 30 percent. She is now tied with Las Piñas Rep. Camille Villar, the only candidate to maintain her previous ranking.
Sen. Ramon “Bong” Revilla Jr. also experienced a decline from seventh and eighth to 11th-12th places with 29 percent.
Sen. Imee Marcos, on the other hand, made a strong comeback to the “Magic 12,” securing 29 percent and pushing former Sen. Manny Pacquiao out of the top spots. Pacquiao was now relegated to the 13th and 15th spot.
8 Marcos bets in top 12
Last month, former Vice President Leni Robredo endorsed Pacquiao and former Interior Secretary Benhur Abalos.
The endorsements marked Robredo’s first of senatorial candidates outside the traditional liberal or opposition circles as both Pacquiao and Abalos are running under the administration’s Alyansa Para sa Bagong Pilipinas coalition.
Meanwhile, of the nine candidates endorsed by President Marcos’ party, eight—Erwin Tulfo, Lapid, Cayetano, Revilla, Lacson, Sotto, Binay and Villar—remained within the top 12. Only Pacquiao dropped out of the winning circle.
In the latest survey, Abalos tied with Pacquiao as well as TV host Willie Revillame, each receiving 24 percent of voter preference, placing them in the 13th to 15th bracket.
Bam, Kiko
Other candidates with more than 20 percent intended votes were former senator Bam Aquino, who ranked 16th with 23 percent, and former senator Kiko Pangilinan, who followed at 17th with 21 percent.
The SWS survey used face-to-face interviews among 1,800 registered voters.
It had a margin of error of plus-or-minus 2.31 percentage points for the national percentages, plus-or-minus 3.27 percentage points for Luzon outside Metro Manila, and plus-or-minus 5.66 percentage points each for Metro Manila, the Visayas, and Mindanao.
