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