MANILA: A self-made billionaire lawmaker, who ranked second in the latest opinion poll ahead of the 2010 election, formed an alliance on Tuesday with a rival political party in a bid to capture the Philippine presidency next May.
Sen. Manuel Villar, head of the small Nacionalista Party (NP) who made his billions in property development, said he had picked Sen. Loren Legarda of the Nationalist People’s Coalition as his running mate.
“My choice for vice president was not motivated by political accommodation but by a common vision for the country,” Villar told supporters at his party’s headquarters.
But the alliance, reported by local newspapers ahead of the formal announcement on Tuesday, will not tip the scales in favor of any candidate, analysts said.
Villar ranked a far second with 19 percent support compared with frontrunner Sen. Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino who got 44 percent in the latest public opinion survey by independent pollster Pulse Asia released on Monday.
Villar ranked first in a similar survey in Aug. with 25 percent support, but dropped a notch after Aquino announced his intention to run for president in September.
Sen. Francis “Chiz” Escudero, who has dropped out from the race, came in third with 13 percent followed by former President Joseph Estrada with 11 percent.
Gilberto Teodoro, who resigned on Monday as defense secretary to concentrate on his campaign as the administration’s presidential candidate, was at 2 percent, up from 0 percent in the last survey in August. Teodoro and Aquino are second cousins.
Many in the business community back Villar, who controls real estate firm Vista Land and Lifescapes, because of his background in business.
Analysts say Teodoro has to register at least a double figure rating before the actual campaign starts by February 2010 or the political contest will be reduced to a two-man fight between Aquino and Villar.
“In a two-man race, it would favor Villar,” Prospero de Vera, professor for public administration at the University of the Philippines, said. “Experience and competence will be highlighted and it might force the remnants of the administration party to make a choice and I think a larger number will go toward Villar’s Nacionalista Party.”
Analysts believe Villar is a strong candidate because he can easily fund a costly campaign that would need at least 2-3 billion pesos ($48-64 million), a huge sum for a country where nearly 50 percent of households live on less than $2 a day.
The election is due in May 2010 and the nomination period is from Nov. 20 until Dec. 1.
