The Wutz Up in the Philippines!

MANILA, Philippines - Campaign posters went up and jingles blared at election rallies and motorcades all over the country yesterday as the country’s richest politician and the son of its democracy icon fired the opening salvos in the tight race to succeed President Arroyo.

Sen. Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III, son of former President Corazon Aquino and former Sen. Benigno Aquino Jr., and his main rival Sen. Manny Villar are promising a fresh start and clean government for the Philippines after nine years of tumultuous rule dotted with coup attempts and corruption allegations.

Aquino, campaigning in Concepcion Tarlac, took potshots at Villar.

“We all know our opponent has the money. And there are those who say that the forces of darkness will come together,” he said in his speech. “The question is, will the force of light be overpowered?”

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MANILA, Philippines - The race is on for presidential candidates beginning today, after months of unofficial free-for-all.

The frontrunner, Liberal Party standard-bearer Sen. Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III, kicks off his campaign in his home province of Tarlac, at his family’s old house in Concepcion.

He and his running mate Sen. Manuel Roxas II, as well as LP senatorial candidates, will hold a motorcade to the Aquino Museum and then to the municipalities of Bamban, Capas and Tarlac City.

The Nacionalista Party led by its standard-bearer Sen. Manuel Villar Jr. kicks off its “90-day journey to a better Philippines” in Calamba, Laguna, the birthplace of national hero, Dr. Jose Rizal, with visits to public markets.

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MANILA, Philippines - Liberal Party standard-bearer Sen. Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III continued to top the list of presidential candidates in the latest survey conducted by the Social Weather Stations (SWS), but Nacionalista Party bet Sen. Manny Villar has further narrowed the gap to just seven percentage points.

The SWS poll, commissioned by BusinessWorld, found that 42 percent of Filipinos would vote for Aquino while 35 percent would choose Villar.

The survey, conducted from Jan. 21 to 24, used face-to-face interviews of 2,100 adult respondents.

Aquino’s lead over Villar was 19 percentage points in Dec. 5 to 10 and 11 percent in Dec. 27 to 28.

Before the filing of candidacy papers, Aquino’s lead over the rest of the aspirants was more than 20 percentage points.

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MANILA, Philippines—(UPDATE) Batangas Governor Vilma Santos-Recto and former Senator Ralph Recto are joining the Liberal Party (LP) and support the team-up of Senators Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III and Manuel “Mar” Roxas II in the 2010 elections.

At the convention, Roxas also announced the LP’s senatorial slate composed of Recto, former congressman Neric Acosta, former Senator Franklin Drilon, Bukidnon Representative Teofisto Guingona III, Akbayan Representative Risa Hontiveros, detained general Danilo Lim, and former Senator Serge Osmena.

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MANILA, Philippines - Economic prospects seem rosier for the Philippines next year after a not-so-bad 2009, with resilient remittances and post-typhoon rebuilding efforts likely sustaining the momentum, according to New York-based think tank Global Source.

In an Oct. 27 country report titled “The Sun Also Rises,” the report also said the two leading candidates in the 2010 presidential elections based on the latest popularity surveys were acceptable to the business sector and could be expected to manage the economy competently.

The two are Senators Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III of the Liberal Party and Manuel Villar of the Nacionalista Party.

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