Aquino set for landslide win in Philippine polls
Benigno Aquino was set to become the new Philippine president, pledging to fight corruption after riding on a wave of support from the "People Power" movement of his democracy hero parents.
Aquino told AFP yesterday in an interview even before being formally proclaimed the winner that he would "lead by example" and bring in clean government after almost a decade under the corruption-tainted rule of President Gloria Arroyo.
The reserved 50-year-old senator steamrolled his rivals, with latest results showing him grabbing 40 percent of the estimated 37.5 million votes cast Monday in the country's first automated polls.
In the interview, he also said that once in office he would ensure that Arroyo, one of the Philippines' most unpopular leaders, would be investigated for alleged vote-rigging in the last election in 2004.
"I want to lead by example. We talk about corruption. I did make a public vow, I will never steal," he said, adding that this would give him the "moral authority" to make others conform.
Millions of Filipinos had turned out to vote Monday despite deadly bouts of violence and complaints about problems with ballot-counting machines that led to long queues.
"Noynoy" Aquino, the son of the Philippines' most revered democracy heroes, wooed the country during a tumultuous election campaign with his mantra of clean government and pledges to reduce poverty.
His closest rival, former president Joseph Estrada, 73, was trailing on 25 percent with only a few million votes left to tally but he refused to concede until final results were in.
However, other candidates were already congratulating Aquino, a former economics student of Arroyo who became one of her fiercest critics. He is due to take office at the end of her six-year term on June 30.
Among the winners of the thousands of other posts up for grabs were Imelda Marcos, the flamboyant widow of toppled dictator Ferdinand Marcos, and world boxing champion Manny Pacquiao.
Aquino's mother Corazon Aquino led the "People Power" revolution that overthrew the late dictator Marcos in 1986 and then served as president.
His father, Benigno "Ninoy" Aquino, was shot dead in 1983 as he attempted to return from US exile to lead the movement against Marcos.
The United States, the former colonial power, hailed the overall conduct of the election and said it looked forward to working with the new leader of a key Asian ally.
Aquino was a latecomer to the presidential race, declaring his candidacy only after his mother's death from cancer last August plunged the country into mourning and demonstrated the power of the family name.
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