Yes for Aquino

Press, 4 February 1987, Page 10

Yes for Aquino

NZPA-Reuter Manila Filipinos have given President Corazon Aquino an overwhelming mandate, vote counters said yesterday. Four out of five voters backed a constitution which guarantees her the Presidency until 1992. More than 80 per cent of those eligible voted. The independent National Citizens Movement for Free Elections said nearly 4.6 million of a total 5.7 million votes counted so far approved

the charter and 1.1 million rejected it. More than 20 million people voted. The count was slower at the official Commission on Elections, which is collating results from more than 7000 islands sprawled across the Philippine archipelago. Ratification is expected to stabilise Mrs Aquino’s rule and clear the decks for an ambitious economic recovery program. She has governed for nearly a year under a “revolutionary freedom

constitution.” Mrs Aquino hailed the “honest” balloting saying it would “usher in' the political stability that we all desire.” “The economy will be the main concern of my Administration,” she said. A shadow was cast over the plebiscite by the military, members of which staged an unsuccessful coup bid recently. Military sources said a big percentage of “no” votes dominated preliminary results from Manila’s Armed Forces camps.