Philippines star 'sorry' in election campaign row

MANILA (AFP) - Philippine talk show host Kris Aquino has apologised after she provoked a fellow celebrity into launching a campaign against her presidential candidate brother Benigno Aquino.

The son and daughter of democracy icon Corazon Aquino found themselves an unwanted enemy two months before the May 10 elections when showbiz celebrity mum Annabelle Rama called on her fans not to vote for Benigno.

Rama is the mother of film star Ruffa Gutierrez, who had walked out of Kris Aquino's popular television talk show on Sunday after showing irritation at the host's line of questioning.

Rama later appeared on a rival television network to call on Filipinos not to vote for Benigno "Noynoy" Aquino "as it might just inflate Kris' sense of self."

Kris Aquino apologised to Rama in a message carried by the Philippine Star newspaper: "On behalf of our family I apologise for the distress we caused you."

She added: "I promised (my brother) that if he does win, and I'm the cause of stress for him and his presidency, I'll gladly take my two boys to live (abroad) so that I can continue to work but with our overseas Filipino brothers and sisters."

After topping the polls in 2009, partly out of popular sympathy for his former president mother who died of cancer last year, Benigno Aquino saw his advantage vanish last month.

Manila-based independent pollster Social Weather Stations put Aquino and fellow senator rival Manuel Villar in a virtual dead heat, at 36 percent versus 34 percent respectively.

The nationwide February 24-28 survey of 2,100 registered voters commissioned by the Business World newspaper had an error margin of 2.2 percentage points.