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Senator Aquino Leads 2010 Philippines Presidential Race -Poll

MANILA -(Dow Jones)- Senator Benigno Aquino III, son of late President Corazon Aquino, will win by a landslide to become president if Philippine elections were held now, the latest survey by private pollster Pulse Asia showed Monday.

The survey showed that 44% of respondents will vote for Aquino while his closest rival and erstwhile poll leader, former Senate President Manuel Villar, only garnered 19%. Senator Francis Escudero will get 13% of the votes while former President Joseph Estrada will get 11%, the poll showed.

This is the first Pulse Asia survey on next May's presidential election since Aquino threw his hat into the ring.

Pulse Asia said many of the respondents favored Aquino because of his "clean public record."

The nationwide survey was conducted between Oct. 22 and Oct. 30. It had 1,800 respondents and a margin of error of plus or minus 2 percentage points.

Senator Manuel Roxas II, who decided to forgo his presidential bid and be Aquino's running mate, was leading the vice presidential race, with 37% of correspondents favoring him.

Senator Loren Legarda was the second-most popular for the post of vice president with 23% of the votes.

-By Cris Larano, Dow Jones Newswires; 632-848-5051; cris.larano@dowjones.com

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