Canvass over; it’s GMA

The counting is finally over.

After 17 days of emotionally charged debates, the 22-member joint congressional committee finally finished the canvassing of votes last night, which showed President Arroyo winning by a margin of 1,123,576 votes.

The joint panel formally wrapped up the canvassing of 177 certificates of canvass (COCs) at 8:21 p.m. amid defiant statements from allies of Koalisyon ng Nagkakaisang Pilipino (KNP) standard-bearer Fernando Poe Jr. who vowed to ensure that the committee’s report will be rejected when it is submitted for approval before the joint session of Congress this week.

The final tally showed Mrs. Arroyo receiving 12,905,808 votes against Poe’s 11,782,232 votes.

Independent presidential candidate Sen. Panfilo Lacson placed third with 3,510,080 votes, followed by former education secretary Raul Roco with 2,082,762 votes. Last in the congressional tally was evangelist Eduardo Villanueva who got 1,988,218 votes.

Administration bet Sen. Noli de Castro won the vice presidential race with 15,100,431 votes while his closest rival, Sen. Loren Legarda, received 14,218,709 votes. Roco’s running mate Herminio Aquino placed a far third with 981,500 votes while Rodolfo Pajo got 22,244 votes. Pajo is the running mate of disqualified presidential candidate Eddie Gil.

The last COC to be canvassed was from Cotabato City. Senate President Franklin Drilon read the figures for presidential candidates, while Speaker Jose de Venecia Jr. read those for vice president.

The chairmen of the joint committee, Senate Majority Leader Francis Pangilinan and Deputy Speaker Raul Gonzalez, banged the gavel to formally end the canvass.

"We averted a constitutional crisis," an exultant Drilon told his fellow lawmakers.

De Venecia congratulated the chairmen of the joint committee and the members, alternates and substitutes for their "significant contribution" to the canvassing.

"It’s been an emotional and intense exchange of ideas and protests, charges and accusations," De Venecia said. "But by and large, the members were civil with each other, the claims of fraud and irregularities were something to be expected."

"I am relieved very much," Gonzalez said, while Pangilinan expressed happiness that "now I can have my life back."

As soon as the canvass ended, a group of civil society members who stayed in the gallery gave red roses to administration lawmakers and lawyers and white roses to their counterparts in the opposition.

However, just before the final COC was read, opposition lawmakers left the session hall one by one. KNP chairman Sen. Edgardo Angara and Sen. Aquilino Pimentel Jr. stayed until the canvass was formally ended, but left immediately after shaking hands with their counterparts in the administration.

Just before the canvass ended, administration Sen. Rodolfo Biazon, who faces an electoral protest filed by Sen. John Osmeña over the last slot in the senatorial elections, made a parliamentary inquiry to determine if there are no COCs left to tabulate.

De Venecia said the opposition lawmakers, accused of prolonging what should have been a speedy canvassing, were given "plenty of democratic leeway and space" to air their protests and allegations.

De Venecia described the last-ditch efforts by Poe’s allies in the joint committee to defer the tabulation of what they said were questionable COCs as the "last spasms of protests."

"But you can see that they’re already resigned," he said.

By tonight or early tomorrow, the joint committee is expected to complete its report, which will be signed by all its members. The joint session is expected to resume on Wednesday, when another round of acrimonious debates over the report is expected to ensue.

De Venecia said Mrs. Arroyo’s proclamation by Congress will take place anywhere between Thursday and Saturday.

"If we’re lucky, we can have the proclamation on Thursday night," he said.

Anticipating attempts by the opposition to block the report with another round of filibustering, De Venecia said they will put the issue to vote if the debates threaten the scheduled proclamation on June 30.

Canvass on overtime

The last day of canvassing — on overtime for the past two days — resumed at 10:15 a.m. yesterday, with 17 COCs to be canvassed.

Angara moved that the least contentious COCs be canvassed and questionable ones tackled later in the day. The committee was able to tabulate eight COCs in the morning, including that of Cebu City which had been deferred Saturday night.

When the proceedings resumed in the afternoon, Makati Rep. Teodoro Locsin pointed out that the state-run television network NBN-4 had suspiciously cut off its live coverage even as the opposition was expected to pull out all the stops in opposing the last COCs.

Locsin asked the committee to compel NBN 4 to resume its live coverage of the canvass since it is a government-run station. He was joined by Angara and Sanlakas Rep. Jose Virgilio Bautista, who claimed he was responsible for compelling the station to conduct a live coverage.

"There seems to be a deliberate plan not to allow the opposition to bring our case to the people," Angara said.

Villanueva’s demand for the joint committee to open three ballot boxes, as relayed and supported by Pimentel, was voted down by the joint committee.

Apparently fed up by the opposition’s repeated calls for the joint committee to scrutinize precinct-level election returns, Sen. Joker Arroyo, a member of the panel, brought out an "accordion" visual drawn by his daughter depicting the electoral tabulation process.

He pointed out that the opposition’s request is against the rules and would delay the canvass.

As the debates dragged out in the afternoon — mainly because of the opposition’s question on supporting documents — Makati Rep. Agapito Aquino, a member of the joint panel, called for an end to the discussions since the votes of the last six COCs showed Mrs. Arroyo had a comfortable margin of more than 250,000 votes.

Debates also erupted between opposition lawmakers and congressmen from the provinces with questioned COCs — Sultan Kudarat, Tawi-Tawi, and Lanao.

Lanao del Sur Rep. Benasing Macarambon said he resented the opposition’s accusations that there were no elections held in his province.

"Are you saying I was not elected?" he said. "I hope you will stop assailing us. You don’t know what is happening in Muslim Mindanao."

Bautista stormed out of the session hall after Iloilo Rep. Arthur Defensor pointed out that he was not only talking too much but had no right to do so since he was only an alternate of Sen. Vicente Sotto III, who was already present.

Bautista alleged that the "mechanical majority" was receiving marching orders from Malacañang.

The entire process — from the convening of the Senate and the House as the national board of canvassers in joint public session last May 25 up to the end of the canvass — took 27 days. If Mrs. Arroyo’s proclamation were to be held on June 25, the entire process will have taken 32 days, the longest since the 1992 and 1998 presidential elections.

‘Concede defeat’

At the conclusion of the congressional canvass, administration lawmakers called on Poe to concede to Mrs. Arroyo, who has managed to sustain her lead of more than a million votes.

Lakas-Christian Muslim Democrats Rep. Oscar Rodriguez of Pampanga and Nationalist People’s Coalition Rep. Douglas Cagas of Davao Oriental issued the call as they noted it would be impossible for Poe to catch up.

"As we are about to conclude the preliminary canvass, there is no doubt that the President won the polls based on the tabulated certificates of canvass," Rodriguez said. "Poe should be man enough to respect the election results instead of making further excuses like baseless cheating to justify his loss."

He said the tabulation was done with utmost transparency and impartiality, as witnessed by the public through live coverage by television networks.

Cagas said members of Congress are glad that the canvass will be over and they will soon act on the joint panel’s report, which is the basis for the proclamation of winners next week.

"Poe and the opposition should no longer obstruct the canvass and proclamation because the people have been anxiously waiting for the poll results while Congress has a proclamation deadline to meet," he said.

Cagas said even constitutional and legal experts such as former Senate president Jovito Salonga have expressed disgust over the opposition’s dilatory tactics and lack of humility in accepting defeat in the polls.

Opposition and administration lawmakers are in the midst of preparing their individual reports that will be brought before the joint session of the Senate and the House of Representatives after the canvass is done.

Pangilinan said Senate staff have already prepared a "draft" committee report and contentious issues regarding the canvass will be included in it,

"I have my inputs. I myself will write part of the report. The objections, memoranda will all be included as part of the final report. I have already gone through some of the issues that we would like to place in the report," he said.

Outgoing Maguindanao Rep. Didagen Dilangalen, a staunch ally of Poe, said the minority bloc in Congress is also ready with its report, and vowed to fight it out in the joint committee session.

"I’m preparing my own," he said. Dilangalen added that his colleagues are also preparing their individual reports that will be read and raised in the joint session this week.

"Anyway, we are working within the time limit," he said, reiterating that the congressional canvass is "an unconscionable mockery of our due process," mainly because most of the joint panel’s members refused to open the election returns.

Pangilinan said he expects the joint session to be full of "fireworks," as all the parties concerned will be given time to air their positions on each and every issue regarding the canvass and its outcome.

"If the adoption of the rules were treated then, there will be a lot of fireworks. A sponsor is given one hour, those who are against the measure will also be given one hour, and then three hours each for others for others to speak for or against," he said.

Pangilinan also said Poe’s allies cannot complain of being gagged — even if his lawyers walked out — because they were allowed to speak.

"Poe’s interests have been ably protected. We have allowed them to make their manifestations, observations. They were given all the opportunities to manifest their objections and issues they want to raise," he said.

Reps. Prospero Pichay of Surigao del Sur, Monico Puentevella of Bacolod City and Del de Guzman of Marikina City said the victory by administration candidates all over the country only means that people have had enough of the opposition’s obstructionism, attempts to destabilize the government, and destructive politics.

"People refused to bite into the opposition’s black propaganda and have instead supported the leadership offered by the administration, which provides hope and direction for a better life in the next six years," Pichay said.

He cited that the administration’s gubernatorial bets won in most of the country’s provinces — the Lakas- Christian Muslim Democrats (Lakas-CMD) party won in 40 provinces, the Nationalist People’s Coalition (NPC) in 14 provinces, and the Liberal Party (LP) in nine other provinces.

Pichay also pointed out that among the newly elected congressmen, 90 were from Lakas-CMD, 45 from NPC and 25 from LP.

Puentevella said people are "discerning enough to know that an opposition victory would have meant a return of the worst form of governance that resulted in the Erap debacle," referring to the term of deposed President Joseph Estrada, now detained on corruption charges. — with Delon Porcalla, AP, AFP, Reuters