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| Southeast Asia |
| Aquino set for landslide win |
| 2010-05-12 |
| [Straits Times] BENIGNO Aquino was set to become the new Philippine president on Tuesday after riding a huge wave of support from the 'People Power' movement of his democracy hero parents. Mr Aquino steamrolled his rivals in Monday's national elections with a promise to fight corruption and reduce poverty in the nation after almost a decade under the corruption-tainted rule of President Gloria Arroyo. An automated count showed him grabbing 40 per cent of the estimated 37.5 million votes cast, with his closest rival, former president Joseph Estrada, winning 25 per cent with only a few million votes left to tally. Mr Estrada, 73, refused to concede until final results were in, but other candidates were already congratulating the reserved 55-year-old bachelor, a former economics student of President Arroyo who became one of her fiercest critics. Among the winners of the thousands of other posts up for grabs across the nation were Imelda Marcos, the flamboyant widow of toppled dictator Ferdinand Marcos, and world boxing champion Manny Pacquiao. Millions of Filipinos had turned out to vote in the country's first automated polls, which were rattled by deadly bouts of violence and complaints about problems with ballot-counting machines that led to long queues. |
| Posted by:Fred |
| #2 I hope so too. |
| Posted by: 49 Pan 2010-05-12 17:12 |
| #1 I really hope he can move his country forward. We should do all we can to help him out. |
| Posted by: Cyber Sarge 2010-05-12 08:38 |