Manny Pacquiao and Imelda Marcos join the race for Philippines President

Richard Lloyd Parry, Asia Editor
The Times


One candidate is a professional boxer, another aims to become “emperor of the world”, and a third is a rather famous shoe collector.

Elections in the Philippines are usually as entertaining as they are hair-raising, and the polls next May, for no fewer than 17,800 local and national posts as well as for the country’s presidency, promise to be colourful.

Among the candidates for Congress are Manny Pacquiao, the world welterweight boxing champion, and Imelda Marcos, the 80-year-old widow of the country’s former dictator, Ferdinand Marcos, who became famous for hoarding 1,060 pairs of shoes. With minutes to go until the deadline on Tuesday night, Mrs Marcos’s lawyer registered her candidacy in the province of Ilocos Norte, to contest the seat being vacated by her son. Ferdinand Marcos Jr, better known as “Bong Bong”, is standing for Congress, and his sister, Imee, is a candidate for governor of the province.

The candidates for president include one Rigoberto Madera, who is aiming particularly high. “According to God’s will, I will start as President of the Philippines, then as Secretary-General of the United Nations, then as President of the US until I will be crowned as Earth emperor at Mount Sinai,” he said.

Also in the running is Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino, the only son of the murdered opposition leader Benigno Sr and the late Corazon Aquino, who led the campaign to oust Marcos and became the Philippines’ first democratically elected president. Although he lacks his parents’ charisma, he goes into the campaign as the front-runner.

He will face a vigorous challenge from Manuel Villar, a senator and self-made property billionaire. The former Defence Minister Gilberto Teodoro will stand as the favoured candidate of the current President, Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, who is barred under the Constitution from running again. Joseph Estrada, a film actor who was elected President in 1998 and driven from power three years later, has also put his name forward.

Mrs Arroyo, meanwhile, has drawn criticism by standing for a seat in Congress. Some suggest that, by staying in politics, she is seeking to protect herself from the accusations of corruption and human rights abuses made during her eight years in power.

Most of the applicants are likely to be disqualified as “nuisance” candidates but the realistic contenders will find themselves engaged in a struggle for power in a country of 98 million people that is stricken by chronic poverty, corruption and violence.

Last Monday 57 people were murdered by gunmen in Mindanao as they travelled to register a candidate for the governorship of Maguindanao province. As well as the politician’s wife and sisters, they included 30 journalists. Andal Ampatuan Jr, the son of a powerful local clan leader, has been charged with murder for ordering the killings.

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