Violence, tight race mark Philippine poll campaign

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."

Villar, 60, narrowly avoided censure by his colleagues in the Senate for his alleged role in the rerouting of a highway so that it passes close to his real estate developments. He said the charges are trumped up.

Aquino, 50, has anchored his campaign on fighting corruption and restoring the credibility of the judiciary and Congress, which he says have been seriously eroded by Arroyo.

But he is also struggling to step out from the shadow of his mother, Corazon Aquino, who fought dictator Ferdinand Marcos and was swept to power in the 1986 "people power" revolt. Her death from cancer in August led to a massive outpouring of grief.

"I speak my mind and I follow my own guides, my own leads," Aquino said Monday when asked how much influence his family has on his campaign. "I will have to be democratic and indulgent even with ideas opposite of mine. That is the essence of democracy."

Former Defense Secretary Gilbert Teodoro, the administration's candidate, is trailing behind Villar and Aquino but hopes to catch up in the next three months. He has defended his loyalty to Arroyo and said prosecuting her after she leaves office was not on his agenda.

Aquino supports filing anti-corruption cases against Arroyo, his former economics teacher.

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Associated Press writers Teresa Cerojano and Oliver Teves contributed to this report.