City Councilor John Geesnell “Baba” Yap remains a top favorite for city mayor as shown from the instant reaction Thursday of radio callers in relation to the release of the 2013 Bohol Poll of the Holy Name University Research Center.  DYRD’s Inyong Alagad, the most listened radio program hereabouts, swung into action Thursday, to solicit callers’ reactions’ after the presentation of the results of the Bohol Poll 2013 made the day earlier. Spontaneous to the core, the reactions made through telephones and cell phones practically burned the radio station landlines from Yap supporters and lasted without let up until the end of the two-hour radio program. Although the survey results showed otherwise because what turned out to be a Yap lead of 7 percentage points, the same was interpreted as statistical tie after his closest rival posted 30 points. In the same poll conducted March 2-22, Yap registered 37 points against lawyer Agustrinus Gonzaga’s 30 points.

 In fairness to Gonzaga, there were callers obviously representing his own army of supporters, who registered their own congratulations to their favored candidate, for his surging performance in the tight mayoralty derby. On the other hand, the callers, no doubt diehard Yap supporters, pounced on the seven points advantage that before the radio anchors could muster enough strength to argue that it was a tie between two close contenders, they remained unyielding to the point of drowning out the phenomenal rise of Gonzaga. The same callers were vocal in their congratulations of Yap’s performance as a survey leader. Ever since the HNU Research Center conducted its mayoralty surveys, Yap is the consistent survey topnotcher. In the latest survey results released last Wednesday by the polling body, the three-way race in the city mayoralty fight is now fast becoming a nobody’s game with Gonzaga’s performance gaining momentum from a lackluster showing in the early going of the campaign. Dr. Abe Lim remains in third place but he is also catching up with the top placers.

Although the margin of seven points in the Yap-Gonzaga rivalry for the top slot, which if quantified into votes will amount to more than 3,000, the statistiscal tie was arrived at on the basis of a margin of error of +10, -10. Another interesting fight as a result of the latest survey is the congressional showdown in the second district between the heir of the late congressman Erico Aumentado and Trinidad Mayor Roberto Cajes. Aris Aumentado, though still wet between the ears as his father’s reluctant substitute, managed to stay close to Cajes in terms of approval rating by posting a statistical tie.Both Aumentado and Cajes tied at 41% and 43%, respectively. For a greenhorn like the young Aumentado, it was already a feat to tie with Cajes who is considered a congressional veteran. As a comebacking solon, Cajes was a three-termer solon in the second district before the same seat was regained by the elder Aumentado in 2010. The fight for the city vice mayor was another toss up between close rivals which resulted in a tie between incumbent V-Mayor Nuevas Tirol Montes and challenger Jose Antonio Veloso. They both garnered 24% and 41%, respectively. Except for the close contests of Yap and Gonzaga and Aumentado and Cajes, all the rest of the survey results indicated a one-sided scenario starting from the governor,vice governor,first district congressional showdown and the fight for slots of board members.