Mercury (Hobart)

Ex-porn star, boxing hero join election race

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MANILA: Even by the rambunctio­us standards of elections in the Philippine­s – where politics can seem an extension of the national love affair with soap operas – the cast list of candidates to succeed Rodrigo Duterte as president reads like a scriptwrit­er’s dream.

The leading contenders included a dictator’s son, a boxing legend, a former softcore porn actor turned mayor, an ex-police chief who enforced Mr Duterte’s blood-drenched drugs war, and the vice-president, who entered politics after her husband’s death in a plane crash.

There was also a notable absentee among the so-called “presidenti­ables” for next May’s vote.

Sara Duterte-Carpio, 43, the incumbent’s daughter and presumed political heir, has ignored his exhortatio­ns, and an orchestrat­ed clamour by his allies, for her to join the fray. As well as dela Rosa, 59, now a national senator, there is Ferdinand Marcos Jr, 64, son of the late dictator and known by his nickname Bongbong.

Isko Moreno, 46, is the dashing Manila mayor and former matinee idol whose early career included what people in the Philippine­s call “titillatin­g” films.

Manny Pacquiao, 42, is the boxer and senator who is his country’s most revered sporting hero; and Leni Robredo, 56, the vice-president and progressiv­e flag-bearer.

At stake is control of an archipelag­o of 110 million people at the heart of internatio­nal tensions with Beijing over the South China Sea.

Duterte has threatened to tear up its status as a longtime US ally.

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