Aquino favourite to be next Philippine president: poll

MANILA (AFP) - – The son of Philippine democracy champion Corazon Aquino is an overwhelming favourite to win next next year's presidential election, according to a national survey released on Monday.

Senator Benigno Aquino attracted 44 percent support in a poll of preferred presidents, with millionaire property developer Manny Villar a distant second with 19 percent, polling and research company PulseAsia said.

The survey of 1,800 respondents around the country was taken in late October, and was the first by PulseAsia since Aquino announced his presidential run in September.

In a worrying development for President Gloria Arroyo's ruling coalition, its candidate, Defence Secretary Gilberto Teodoro, attracted just two percent support.

His dismal ratings came even after he took a high-profile role leading disaster relief efforts for two deadly storms that hit the Philippines from late September and claimed more than 1,100 lives.

PulseAsia said the clamour for clean governance was the top reason for Aquino's strong support.

"The reason most-often cited in expressing a voting preference for a possible presidential candidate is (Aquino's) clean public record or, alternatively, not being corrupt," PulseAsia said in a statement.

Aquino has recorded few political achievements during his 11 years in parliament, but he is immensely popular because of his mother, who led the "people power" revolution that ended dictator Ferdinand Marcos's reign in 1986.

Her subsequent six-year rule of the Philippines was generally regarded as being relatively clean, compared with the corruption-plagued government's of her predecessor and some of her successors.

Her death in August triggered a huge outpouring of support for the Aquino family, and her son used that emotion to transform himself from a political lightweight into presidential frontrunner.

Former president Joseph Estrada, who was overthrown in 2001 a bloodless coup amid widespread anger over corruption for which he was later found guilty, is seeking to run again in next year's election.

He was in fourth place in the PulseAsia survey with 11 percent support.