RP's Arroyo faces rule with thin mandate<\/p>\n
Stuart Grudgings, Reuters\/Manila<\/p>\n
President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo prepared on Monday for a new
\nsix-year term in which she has pledged to attack poverty faced by
\nmillions of Filipinos, saying she wanted to unite the nation
\nafter years of bitter disputes.<\/p>\n
However, doubts over her mandate caused by a drumbeat of
\ncheating allegations from the opposition threaten to undermine
\nthe U.S.-trained economist from the start. Financial markets were
\nunwilling to give her a vote of confidence yet.<\/p>\n
\"We will continue the rule of law and the reconciliation
\nprocess to consolidate our nation and prepare to meet the tough
\ntimes ahead,\" Arroyo said in a speech in the northern
\nPhilippines, adding that it was too early to celebrate.<\/p>\n
A 13-day tally by a congressional panel that ended on Sunday
\ngave the daughter of a former president a narrow victory over
\nfilm star rival Fernando Poe Jr. in the May 10 elections, paving
\nthe way for her official proclamation later this week.<\/p>\n
The opposition, which says Arroyo cheated her way to victory,
\ncan still contest the result in Congress in the next few days or
\ntake the battle to the Supreme Court. But her inauguration was
\nvirtually certain given her majority in Congress, analysts said.<\/p>\n
The military is on alert for possible unrest, with memories
\nstill fresh of an attempted coup by army officers last July and
\nthe \"people power\" protests that turfed out Poe's friend Joseph
\nEstrada in 2001, paving the way for Arroyo's first term.<\/p>\n
Police said they defused a bomb found outside a Catholic
\nChurch in an exclusive Manila residential neighborhood on Monday,
\nthe third bomb found in Manila since Sunday. Police are
\ninvestigating links between the bombs, officials said.<\/p>\n
Opposition politicians say Arroyo, 57, will have no real
\nmandate unless her lawmakers agree to re-open election returns to
\ncheck what they said was huge cheating behind her win by 12.9
\nmillion votes to Poe's 11.8 million, a three percent margin.<\/p>\n
\"I think we have succeeded in telling the sordid story of this
\nfraudulent election,\" opposition Senate leader Edgardo Angara
\ntold Reuters. \"She will have a formal proclamation but it will be
\na fractured mandate, almost an incredible mandate.\"<\/p>\n
Political analyst Joel Rocamora said the opposition had
\nmanaged to raise sufficient doubts over the election to undermine
\nArroyo's mandate, making a strong start vital in key areas such
\nas electoral reform and cutting the US$3.6 billion budget
\ndeficit.<\/p>\n
\"While the opposition didn't have a leg to stand on, they have
\nthrough sheer repetition succeeded in putting doubt in people's
\nminds,\" Rocamora said.<\/p>\n
Arroyo, whose first three years brought little success in
\neasing chronic poverty or improving investor confidence, has
\npledged to create a million new jobs a year, to install a
\ncomputer in every classroom and to bring cheap power and clean
\nwater to all areas of the sprawling archipelago.<\/p>\n
Markets were taking such pledges with a pinch of salt, waiting
\nfor the composition of the new cabinet and to see if the
\ngovernment would be disciplined enough to cut debt dependency.<\/p>\n
\"People are more focused on the discipline than any populist
\nplans,\" said David Fernandez, Singapore-based head of Asia
\nsovereign research at JP Morgan Chase.<\/p>\n
\"Will she have in the finance ministry not just someone who
\ncan raise debt at competitive price levels but somebody who can
\nactually say no to the politicians.\"<\/p>\n
Raising living standards for the 40 percent of Filipinos who
\nlive on a few dollars a day is made difficult by a government
\ndebt burden of around 80 percent of gross domestic product that
\neats up a third of state revenues in interest payments alone.<\/p>\n
High interest rates, corruption and long-running insurgencies
\nby Muslim and communist rebels have deterred foreign investment
\nneeded to improve dire transport and power infrastructure.<\/p>\n
Markets gave a muted response to Arroyo's expected win. Manila
\nstocks rose 0.51 percent, while the peso gained modestly from a
\nrecord low of 56.45 to the dollar to trade at 56.15\/18.<\/p>",
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