RP hopes for next president by June 30
RP hopes for next president by June 30
Manny Mogato, Reuters, Manila
After a week of rancorous debate, Philippine lawmakers cracked open more ballot boxes on Tuesday and said they should be able to declare the next president at least a week before the government must dissolve on June 30.
Filipinos are still waiting for the final results more than three weeks after they voted, although unofficial numbers leaked by an election official showed President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo beat action movie star Fernando Poe Jr by a slim margin.
Poe's camp claims there was massive fraud in the tallying of votes at the provincial, municipal and city levels, threatening to further slow down the scrutiny of returns.
Arroyo's current government must finish its term at the end of June, opening the way for a constitutional crisis and a temporary president if no winner is declared by then.
"Please bear with us," Eduardo Nachura, a congressman allied with Arroyo, told reporters. "We can finish the canvassing long before the June 30 deadline. We will have a proclaimed winner in two to three weeks."
While the close race and opposition allegations of cheating have kept political tempers high, analysts see little sign of the public anger that ousted dictator Ferdinand Marcos in 1986 and Joseph Estrada as president in 2001.
The military -- which has spawned at least nine coup attempts in the last 18 years, including a brief mutiny against Arroyo last July -- also appears to be calm.
"The situation is not yet ripe for any unrest," political analyst Ronald Llamas told Reuters.
Arroyo's allies control both houses of Congress but had allowed the opposition to debate for days to avoid creating perceptions that it was forcing the pace of vote counting.
"This is best for everyone so that no doubt may arise (and) charges of railroading can be dispelled," Nachura said on Monday.
A joint panel from the Senate and House of Representatives has opened about 23 ballot boxes containing votes for president and vice president, but the actual tally cannot begin until the other 200 are inspected for any sign of fraud or irregularities.
Leaders of both houses of Congress said they were confident the counting of the 176 certificates of canvass -- the master returns from some 32 million voters -- would start on Friday.
Neptali Gonzales, a congressman and Arroyo supporter, said the opening of the boxes should speed up after the opposition promised not to challenge certain small-lot ballots.
Arroyo, a U.S.-trained economist with a mixed track record of economic and social reforms, has kept her public activities to a minimum and appealed for sobriety.
"Let's have faith in the democratic system, because it is the instrument that holds our nation together," she said in a statement after an overnight retreat at a Roman Catholic convent.
Lawmakers are racing against the June 30 deadline when almost all government officials will end their terms, leaving only half of the 24-seat Senate in place.
"Arroyo's three-year-old government was shaky because there were questions about her legitimacy," Llamas said of her rise from vice president when Estrada was chased out as leader. "We could probably expect more trouble under a caretaker government."
But Llamas said he was more concerned the opposition may be able to present credible evidence of fraud and that pro-Arroyo lawmakers would move to cover up the irregularities.
Preliminary count of Philippine election
Gloria Macapagal Arroyo - 8,982,463 (39 percent) Fernando Poe Jr - 8,372,312 (37 percent) Panfilo Lacson - 2,485,019 (11 percent) Raul Roco - 1,605,093 ( 7 percent) Eddie Villanueva - 1,414,167 ( 6 percent)