Aquino widens lead in Philippine presidential race
PHILIPPINE: Benigno Aquino looked set Friday to emerge from a
tumultuous election campaign as the next president of the Philippines
with the release of a survey showing he had widened an already big lead
over his rivals.
Should the opinion polls be reflected in Monday's election, the son
of national democracy heroine Corazon Aquino would record the biggest
win in Philippine presidential electoral history.
Aquino, a balding bachelor who rivals have unsuccessfully sought to
portray as a political lightweight, enjoyed 42 percent support from
respondents to this week's survey by polling body Social Weather
Stations.
Former president Joseph Estrada, deposed in 2001 amid graft
allegations for which he was later convicted, climbed past business
titan Manny Villar with 20-percent support, according to the survey.
Villar, who had long been seen as Aquino's main rival, slumped to 19
percent from 26 percent recorded in the previous survey carried out in
mid-April. Aquino's numbers were up from 38 percent. The survey was the
last major opinion poll to be released ahead of Monday's election to
choose a new president, members of parliament and thousands of other
government posts for the Southeast Asian nation of 90 million people.
President Gloria Arroro is required by constitutional term limits to
step down on June 30, ending nine years in power that were marred by
allegations of massive corruption and vote rigging. Philippine
presidential elections are decided simply by whomever receives the
largest amount of votes.
Estrada secured the most emphatic win in Philippine electoral history
in 1998 when he received 39 percent of the vote. MANILA, Friday, AFP |