MANILA : The First Vote

The already chaotic race to succeed Corazon Aquino promises to speed up further come Saturday when the Philippine president, who will not run again, announces her favorite among at least nine candidates already jockeying for position in the May 11 vote.

Her expected choice: former Defense Secretary Fidel V. Ramos, a terse, cigar-chomping West Point graduate who remained loyal through seven mutinies and coup attempts during Aquino’s nearly six years in office.

The choice threatens to split the pro-administration vote between Ramos and House Speaker Ramon Mitra, an old-style politician believed sympathetic to former cronies of the late President Ferdinand E. Marcos. Such a split would benefit the chief opposition candidate, Eduardo “Danding” Cojuangco Jr., once considered Marcos’ closest friend and business associate. Cojuangco has refused to step aside for the best-known candidate--former First Lady Imelda Marcos.