Campaign posters went up and jingles blared at election rallies Tuesday as the Philippines' richest politician and the son of its democracy icon began a tight race to succeed scandal-tainted President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo.
Senators Manny Villar and Benigno "Noynoy" Aquino III - son of the late Corazon Aquino - are promising a clean government and fresh start for the Philippines after nine years of Arroyo's tumultuous rule dotted with coup attempts and corruption allegations.
With at least a dozen people already gunned down in the run-up to the May 10 polls - and the country still reeling from an election-related massacre late last year that claimed 57 lives in southern Maguindanao province - political violence again emerged as a main concern. About 130 people were killed during the last elections in 2007.
Police have set up checkpoints in a nationwide crackdown on unlicensed guns, and spokesman Leonardo Espina said operations were continuing to disarm nearly 100 private armies on the payroll of political warlords.
A candidate for the city council in southern Cotabato was traveling with his two young children Monday when three gunmen flagged him down and shot him dead before fleeing, police reported.
Aquino had an early head start in popularity thanks to his family name, but recent opinion polls put the two major candidates in a statistical dead heat, with analysts suggesting Villar's lavish campaign spending has allowed him to catch up.
"I am spending my own money," said Villar, who rose from the poor to make his fortune in real estate before entering politics. Speaking at a presidential forum Monday, he said there was a danger when candidates are indebted to political donors.
In a jab at Aquino, he said, "I don't have a mother who was president. No sibling who's an actress. It is imperative that people like me, who were once poor, are given a chance to level the playing field."
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