MANILA — Philippine President Benigno Aquino III ramped up an electoral campaign
Monday that will be crucial to ensuring his anti-corruption drive outlasts his
single presidential term, proclaiming a slate of Senate candidates whom he
hopes will strengthen control of the chamber in next May's national elections.
The constitution limits Mr.
Aquino, who was elected in 2010, to a single six-year term. But in recent weeks
he has been campaigning as if his career was on the line, anointing
congressional and local candidates up and down the Philippines and swearing in
new members of his Liberal Party, which analysts say is key to ensuring future
support in Congress and, especially, the Senate for Mr. Aquino's policies.
The party has grown since Mr.
Aquino was elected, swept into office after his mother, former President
Corazon Aquino, died of cancer in 2009. He has anchored his administration on
pledges of clean governance, and his anti-corruption drive has resulted in the
impeachment and removal of former Supreme Court Chief Justice Renato Corona and
the arrest of former President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo on corruption charges.
But the Liberal Party hasn't
grown as fast as party leaders hoped, and the election next year will prove a
test of its staying power. In a clear sign of that, the Liberal Party joined
forces with five political groups, including the Nacionalista Party of Sen.
Manuel Villar, one of Mr. Aquino's rivals in the 2010 elections. The Nacionalista
Party also counts as a member Sen. Ferdinand Marcos Jr., the only son of late
President Ferdinand Marcos—the arch-rival of Mr. Aquino's father, Sen. Benigno
Aquino Jr., who was assassinated during the Marcos dictatorship.
Their main opposition is fronted
by Vice President Jejomar Binay and former President Joseph Estrada, whose
six-year term that started in 1998 was abbreviated by a popular uprising in
2001 over accusations of corruption. Mr. Estrada was convicted in 2007 by the
anti-graft court on charges of plunder but was quickly pardoned by former
President Arroyo. Polls show the rival slates about evenly divided.
On Monday, Mr. Aquino delivered
his slate of 12 candidates for the Senate at the Club Filipino, a symbolic
location where his mother was sworn into office in the 1986 People's Power
revolution that ousted Marcos. They include the president's cousin and social
entrepreneur Paolo Benigno Aquino, and the wife of Sen. Villar. Of the 12, only
three are Liberal Party members.
The Liberals have four senators
now and hope they can emerge from next year's vote with six, forming a working
majority with others in the 24-member body.
"The message of our alliance
is clear: We will continue the reforms that we have started," Mr. Aquino
said.
So far, Mr. Aquino's message has
resonated, especially among foreign investors and credit-ratings firms. The
country has secured several credit-rating upgrades and is now rated just a
notch below investment grade. The stock market has risen steadily, too, hitting
record levels, while the peso has appreciated to its highest level against the
U.S. dollar in four years. Finance Secretary Cesar Purisima has called it
"Aquinomics," an economic agenda anchored on clean government.
"Good governance is good economics," he has said..
But whether these reforms will
stand after Mr. Aquino leaves office is a question that lingers for
Philippines-watchers, and Mr. Aquino himself has spoken of the need to
institutionalize the new mind-set he has brought to the presidency.
May's elections are a good
starting point, analysts say. Half the seats in the Senate, all 277 positions
in the House of Representatives, and nearly 18,000 local government posts from
provincial governors to town council members will be contested —a golden opportunity
for Mr. Aquino to build a stronger base and possibly set the Liberals up for
another win in the 2016 presidential race.
"A victory in the Senate
race is important in assuring continued public support for his anti-corruption
and anti-poverty programs. In a way, it is an affirmation of his mandate,
thereby providing the political stability required of continued economic growth
and for difficult economic reforms the administration is undertaking,"
said Ramon Casiple, executive director of the Institute for Political and
Electoral Reform.
Mr. Casiple, a veteran political
analyst, said victories in local elections in key economic growth areas will
also consolidate support for the government's economic policy.
The results of the 2013 polls
could also shape the campaigns of candidates already vying to contest the
presidency in four years. Mr. Binay, who was elected as vice president
separately from Mr. Aquino in 2010, is considered a front-runner for 2016. A
big win by his slate could limit Mr. Aquino's effectiveness in the last three
years of his presidency.
By contrast, said Ronald Mendoza,
executive director of the Asian Institute of Management's Policy Center,
"a decisive victory for the administration slate will help validate the
country's gains so far, and boost the number of reformist allies both in
Congress and the local governments."
Josephine Cuneta contributed to
this article.
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