MANILA, Philippines (The Adobo Chronicles, Manila Bureau) – Mar Roxas has every reason to be very happy these days. The former Interior Secretary is leading by a wide margin in a new poll on the Filipinos’ top choice to be their next president.

For many months now since the election campaign began, Roxas has fared very poorly in the polls, oftentimes taking the bottom slot.

This new poll, which comes just about a month till election day on May 9, shows Roxas in the top spot at 37.5%, or more than 12 % ahead of second placer Vice President Jejomar Binay.  Binay got 25% while Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte and Senators Grace Poe and Miriam Defensor-Santiago were all tied for third place with 12.5% each.

The poll was conducted jointly by ABS-CBN, GMA-7 and the Philippines Daily Inquirer.  It was a single-question poll which asked likely voters: “If elections were held today, which of the five presidential candidates would you least want to win?”