Aquino, running mate file certificates of candidacy

Manila : Senator Benigno Aquino III and his vice-presidential running mate Senator Mar Roxas Jr filed their certificates of candidacy yesterday in a fanfare-filled event that looked more like a gathering of showbusiness glitterati than a political event.

Supporters wearing the yellow shirts of the Aquino Liberal Party turned out in droves in a show of force at the Commission on Elections office in old Manila's Walled City of Intramuros.

Benigno ‘Noynoy' Aquino's youngest sister, show business personality Kris Aquino, in a mass held prior to the filing of certificates of candidacy, said celebrities Dingdong Dantes, Marian Rivera, Gretchen Barreto and Cesar Montano are supporting her brother because they believe that he is fit to lead the country.

"Everybody wants change and they believe that my brother is the best choice for the next president," she said.

Kris said Noynoy was best positioned to build on the legacy of her mother, former president Corazon Cojuangco-Aquino, and her slain father, the late senator Benigno ‘Ninoy' Aquino Jr.

Ninoy had fought against the dictatorship of Ferdinand Marcos during the 1970s until his brutal assassination in August 21, 1983.

Cory

Following Ninoy's death, her widow Corazon ‘Cory' Aquino filled the shoes of her slain husband and in February 1986 an uprising ousted Marcos and installed her as the country's 11th president.

Cory died from cancer on August 2 and the Aquino-Cojuangco family appears set to turn a family tragedy into a political victory.

Aside from Noynoy and Roxas, other senatorial candidates of the Liberal Party were also present to file their certificates of candidacy.

These included former socio-economic planning secretary Ralph Recto, representatives Teofisto Guingona III, Nerius Acosta and Riza Hontiveros-Baraquel, and Sonia Roco, wife of the late senator Raul Roco.