Noynoy Aquino's Facebook fan site was shut down

MANILA, Philippines - The camp of Liberal Party standard-bearer Sen. Benigno "Noynoy" Aquino III was forced to shut down the candidate's official Facebook Fan Page after hackers gained illegal access to Aquino's Facebook account and started unsubscribing the LP bet's online supporters.

A thread on Aquino's LP bet's Facebook page on Sunday said: "Our Official Facebook Fan Page has been hacked, and supporters are maliciously being unsubscribed by the hacker. We are temporarily shutting it down. Rest assured our admins are working 24/7 to restore it to normal operations."

The thread has garnered close to 3,000 comments more than 11 hours after it was posted. Some of the comments from Aquino's more than 1.3 million supporters said the incident will not deter support for the LP bet.

Others, however, said the hacking incident could be a ploy by Aquino's camp to gain sympathy for the presidential frontrunner.

The hacking incident is the latest twist in the runup to the May 10 presidential election, which is being contested by a total of nine candidates.