Challenges face Aquino son in bid for presidency

The son of Philippines democracy icon Corazon Aquino has made a blistering start to his presidential campaign, with even his rivals admitting that voters are euphoric over his candidacy.

But both supporters and adversaries believe Benigno Aquino faces a huge task in uniting a fractured opposition ahead of next year's poll, with a billionaire property tycoon and a battle-hardened former president his biggest hurdles.

Senator Aquino, 49, on Wednesday invoked "people power" as he threw his hat into the ring for the May election, vowing to fight against corruption that permeates the highest levels of this impoverished Southeast Asian nation.

With few political achievements during his 11 years in parliament, his star attraction comes almost entirely from his mother, who remains loved throughout the country for ending the dictatorship of Ferdinand Marcos in 1986.

Her death last month triggered a huge outpouring of support for the Aquino family, and the man affectionately known as "Noynoy" used that emotion to transform himself from a political lightweight to presidential contender.

President Gloria Arroyo's executive secretary, Eduardo Ermita, said Aquino's candidacy was being propelled by "euphoria", although he insisted this would not last.

"Many of our voters are not voting for the first time... they will see through the performance, appearance, and statements of a candidate such as the senator," Ermita said.

"It's just a matter for us to see how long the euphoria will last."

Nevertheless, three potential opposition rivals for the presidency have already bowed out of the race and endorsed Aquino.

Shortly after Aquino announced he would run, Jejomar Binay, the influential mayor of the financial district of Makati, withdrew to "pave the way towards uniting the opposition".

Senator Manuel Roxas, the Liberal Party chief, and Ed Panlilio, the governor of Arroyo's home province of Pampanga, made the same move even before Aquino officially announced his presidential ambitions.

Various leaders of the Roman Catholic church, a key force that backed his mother's moral crusade against Marcos, have also welcomed the Aquino candidacy.

However his two main opposition rivals, deposed president Joseph Estrada and property magnate Manny Villar, have made no such concessions.

"Let us let the people decide, not the elites and the bourgeois," Estrada, a 72-year-old former movie star, told AFP, portraying Aquino as representing the rich and himself as the beacon of hope for the poor masses.

Nevertheless, Estrada, who won the 1998 presidential election only to be unseated in a coup in 2001 amid corruption allegations, did not definitively rule out eventually falling in behind Aquino, saying only it was "unlikely".

Senator Villar, 59, the self-made billionaire, has declined to comment in recent days on the Aquino phenomenon.

But he has already spent enormous sums of money promoting himself as a future president and few believe he would simply bow to his younger rival.

If Estrada and Villar do not fall behind him, the opposition vote would be split and make the task of Arroyo's ruling coalition much easier.

Arroyo is barred by the constitution from seeking a new six-year term, and the ruling coalition has yet to announce its candidate ahead of the November 30 deadline.

However there are two leading candidates for the ruling coalition and one of them, Defence Secretary Gilberto Teodoro, is also Aquino's cousin.

"In the event that Noynoy and I would be the ones to face off, the people can expect a dignified fight because even though we are cousins, we will not allow this contest to become personal," Teodoro told reporters.

Vice President Noli de Castro is the other top contender.