MANILA — A cliffhanger race to lead the Philippines began on Tuesday with the adopted daughter of a dead movie star and a tough-talking politician who claims to kill criminals among the top contenders.
The three-month election campaign got under way with four presidential aspirants standing a genuine chance of succeeding Benigno Aquino, who is a popular leader but is prevented by the constitution from running for a second term.
Since emerging from dictatorship three decades ago, the Philippines has seen its political scene dominated by elite families, celebrities, corruption and violence, which have contributed to near-constant chaos.
Those factors are once again dominant themes in this year’s contest for the presidency, as well as the thousands of national and local posts up for grabs in the May 9 elections.
The current presidential front-runner is Grace Poe, an inexperienced politician who is riding a wave of popularity among the tens of millions of poor Filipinos for her adopted father, Fernando Poe Jnr.
“I owe this top ranking... to the Filipino people, who continue to put their faith in my capacity to lead the country,” Poe said on Tuesday after a second national survey released in recent days put her on top with about 30 percent support.
Poe’s father became one of the nation’s most loved actors by playing characters who championed the poor, then nearly translated that into political success by coming second in the 2004 presidential elections.
Poe, 47, only launched her political three years ago when she entered the Senate, but has enjoyed huge success by trading on her father’s name while portraying herself as a reliable, honest advocate of the poor.
However, opponents have petitioned the Supreme Court to disqualify Poe, arguing she cannot prove she is a “natural-born Filipino” because she does not know who her biological parents are.
The Supreme Court could also disqualify Poe for failing to meet residency rules, because she spent many years living in the United States and gained US citizenship before renouncing it and returning home.
If Poe is knocked out, with a court ruling expected during the campaign, the nation would be plunged into political turmoil with three contenders who are currently each polling about 20 percent support ready to pounce.
Aquino, who has overseen growth averaging 6.2 percent since 2010 and won international applause for trying to fight corruption, wants to hand over the keys to the presidential palace to longtime ally Mar Roxas.
“Roxas has competence and integrity, tried and tested,” Aquino said as he stood alongside his friend and fellow Liberal Party stalwart at a campaign rally in Roxas’s home province of Capiz in the central Philippines.
“We have come a long way and this upcoming election is a referendum on the straight path. You will decide whether the change we have fought for will be permanent or a mere vacation from our long history of widespread corruption and poverty.”
However Roxas, 58, a US-educated investment banker from one of the nation’s richest families, has consistently trailed in the polls. Analysts blame a lack of charisma and inability to connect with the poor masses.
In contrast, controversial populist politician Rodrigo Duterte, 70, is making a spectacular charge for the presidency by vowing a ruthless crackdown on crime. “There will be killings. There will be a lot of blood,” Duterte said this week, as he pledged to wipe the streets clean of criminals.
Human rights groups have accused Duterte of running vigilante “death squads” that killed more than 1,000 suspected criminals during his many years as mayor of the major southern city of Davao.
Duterte has acknowledged the existence of the death squads and said in speeches and press conferences in recent months that he had overseen the killings of drug traffickers.
The final major contender is Jejomar Binay, who heads the main opposition party and is the current vice president — the nation’s two top posts are elected separately.
Binay, 73, has spent decades building a vast political machine but he has had to endure a barrage of corruption allegations that have seen him lose his front-runner status.
A Senate committee recently recommended Binay be charged with graft for kickbacks allegedly taken during his long stint as mayor of the nation’s financial capital, Makati.
Poe, Binay and Duterte are due to hold campaign rallies in various slum areas of Manila on Tuesday night.
