VP leads despite graft claims

MANILA: Philippine Vice-President Jejomar Binay has overcome a barrage of graft allegations to re-emerge as front-runner to become the nation’s next leader, according to an independent poll released yesterday.

The 73-year-old had long been the favourite but his poll numbers tanked last year when allegations emerged that he and his son, both former mayors of the Makati financial district, had taken huge kickbacks in the construction of a city-owned car park building.

Pollster Social Weather Stations said the vice-president had regained a clear lead with 31% preferring him in its Jan 8-10 nationwide survey.

“Some people are cynical, reasoning out that all politicians are corrupt anyway,” political analyst Ramon Casiple, from Manila-based thinktank the Institute for Political and Electoral Reform, said.

Mr Binay, who leads the main opposition alliance, denies the corruption allegations against him and members of his family. His spokesmen did not reply to requests for comment on the latest survey results.

In the Philippines, presidents can only serve a single, six-year term.

President Benigno Aquino, a popular l eader, has anointed f ellow Liberal Party stalwart Mar Roxas as his preferred successor.

With an error of margin of plus or minus three percentage points, Senator Grace Poe (24%), Roxas (21%), and anti-crime advocate Rodrigo Duterte (20%) are in a statistical deadlock.

The 1,200 voters polled were not asked to explain their preference, Leo Laroza of Social Weather said.

Mr Casiple said some support for Ms Poe and Mr Duterte eroded due to disqualification cases filed against them.

However, he said many Philippine voters have yet to make up their minds months before the May 9 election.

The official Commission on Elections ruled last month that Ms Poe, an orphan of unknown parentage who was adopted and raised by the Philippines’ most famous movie stars, was not a Filipina at birth and could not run for president. The case is on appeal at the Supreme Court, which provisionally stopped the government dropping her name from the ballot.

Mr Duterte, mayor of a southern city where hundreds of criminals have been killed by vigilantes, registered as a candidate after the Oct 16 deadline to replace another candidate who backed out.