MANILA, Philippines -  Former president Joseph Estrada was the most covered presidential candidate by TV news programs during the first three weeks of the campaign, according to a study by the Center for Media Freedom and Responsibility (CMFR) released this week.

The CMFR study showed Estrada getting a total of 36.29 minutes in total coverage from three major news programs, namely ABS-CBN's TV Patrol (14.17 minutes), GMA-7's 24 Oras (20.7 minutes) and NBN-4's Teledyaryo (1.02 minutes). The study monitored the news programs from February 9 to 27.

The CMFR said that while Estrada did not lead in any of the three news shows in terms of time allotment, he received consistent coverage from all of them.

The second most covered candidate was Nacionalista Party standard bearer Manny Villar, who got a total of 34.51 minutes in airtime. Villar was the most-covered presidential candidate of the news show 24 Oras, with 21.35 minutes, which is higher than Estrada's.

On the other hand, administration candidate Gilbert’ “Gibo” Teodoro Jr. of the ruling Lakas-Kampi CMD party was almost-exclusively covered by Teledyaryo, emerging as the third most-covered candidate of the 10 presidential bets.

The CMFR study also noted that Teledyaryo did not give any airtime to half of the 10 presidential aspirants.

The CMFR said only 4 leading presidential contenders received the lion’s share of broadcast news airtime for the period. The airtime allotted to Estrada, Villar, Teodoro and Benigno "Noynoy" Aquino, Jr. totalled 134.5 minutes, or almost half of the combined airtime of the remaining 6 presidential aspirants, at 71.14 minutes.

NP vice-presidential bet Loren Legarda, meanwhile, emerged as the most covered vice-presidential candidate over the 3-week period with 7.14 minutes in total airtime. She is followed by Liberal Party vice-presidential candidate Manuel "Mar" Roxas with 6.12 minutes, and Lakas-Kampi VP bet Edu Manzano with 4.04 minutes.

Resigned Cabinet secretary Silvestre Bello III and detained Col. Ariel Querubin were the most covered senatorial candidates during the 3-week period, logging a total of 5.5 minutes of airtime in all 3 news programs.

Re-electionist Sen. Miriam Defensor Santiago was the third most covered candidate with 1.75 minutes. The study said Defensor Santiago’s speeches during the campaign trail made her a very soundbite-worthy candidate, earning herself special stories such as “Tirada ni Santiago” (24 Oras, February 12) which featured her lambasting the critics of Nacionalista Party presidential bet Manny Villar.

The CMFR study said there was almost no coverage of the party-list process, and very few parties received airtime. There was no discussion of the importance of the party-list elections as an opportunity for the marginalized to receive representation in Congress, or stories on crucial party-list sectors such as those on labor, agricultural workers, women, indigenous peoples.

The CMFR said election coverage was at its peak on February 9, the first day of official the official campaign period, but later tapered off "as the broadcast media outlets focused on other urgent issues such as the El Niño phenomenon, the water shortage, and the threat of brownouts."