BACACAY, Albay—Aside from their sudden and phenomenal rise in popularity, United States President Barack Obama and Liberal Party standard bearer Senator Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III also have another thing in common: They were both slammed for their smoking habit.

During the campaign en route to the presidency, Obama was frequently seen chewing Nicorette gums, which help minimize cravings for nicotine. He also admitted to smoking up to 5-6 cigarettes per day.

In one interview, Obama said he has been trying to quit since at least 2006, when Michelle Obama made it clear she would not support her husband's presidential run unless he stopped smoking.

He said he had kicked the habit, but “there are times where I have fallen off the wagon.”

And, just like Obama, Aquino is still struggling with his smoking habit.

Aquino pointed out that he has not made so far any promise to stop smoking.

“I am trying to make so that I will not bother anybody when I indulge in that habit. I don’t say that it’s a good habit. At this present time giving it up will add more pressure which I think is unnecessary,”  Aquino candidly told reporters during a press conference here.

“With regard to my smoking did I ever pretend that I’m quitting? Did I advocate anybody joining me there?” Aquino went on.

Obama was smoking by the time he entered Occidental College his alma mater.

He is said to favor Marlboro reds.

"Am I a daily smoker, a constant smoker?" said Obama last June of last year, "No. I don't do it in front of my kids, I don't do it in front of my family."

To avoid setting "a bad example," the US president said he is also careful never to smoke in public.

When his habit was at its heaviest, he reportedly consumed seven or eight cigarettes a day but he's recently said that he's "95 percent cured."

Likewise, former US President Dwight D. Eisenhower had a four-pack-a-day habit, but quit cold turkey while in office.

The senator from Tarlac, meanwhile, lashed back at those who has been criticizing his smoking habit particularly Senator Manny Villar who questioned his ability to govern the country and his supposed heavy smoking habit.

Aquino said he remembers when Villar was still the Senate president he used to join them at the smoking lounge in the Senate “even if he does not smoke just because he is asking support from us.”

“Shall he be attending my smoking instead of answering whether or not the resources of the state were utilized properly in building two roads to serve one end in C-5? Or one road benefiting one subdivision in Iloilo that turned first-class agricultural land into a subdivision?” Aquino told reporters in a press conference here.