By ELLEN TORDESILLAS
THE May 10, 2010 elections gave Liberal Party‘s Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III overwhelming victory, but it was the performance of former President Joseph Estrada in the race that amazed many.
As of Thursday, with 89 percent of the votes in, the Commission on Elections Count gave Aquino 13.8 million votes followed by Estrada with 8.4 million votes. With only about 10 percent of some 38 million votes cast left uncounted, Aquino’s lead of over five million votes looked insurmountable.
But the fact that Estrada, invariably dismissed by analysts early in the election campaign as the either a “spoiler” or “a kingmaker,” one who can help ensure the victory of one candidate in a close contest by his endorsement, is in No. 2, overtaking the high-financed campaign of Nacionalista Party Manuel Villar, showed his strong hold on the masses who comprise the bulk of the 50 million voters despite his being convicted of plunder. (Estrada was convicted of plunder in 2006 after more than six years in detention but was pardoned by Gloria Arroyo a month after.)