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Thursday, May 20, 2004
Arroyo unfazed by Poe's claim he won polls
MANILA -- Opposition candidate Fernando Poe Jr. declared Wednesday he won last week's presidential election and accused incumbent Gloria Arroyo of cheating him out of his victory.
But President Arroyo, who is leading by over a million votes against her closest rival in a government-sanctioned quick count, is unfazed by the Koalisyon ng Nagkakaisang Pilipino (KNP) candidate's claim
Her spokesman Ignacio Bunye said only Congress can proclaim the winner of the May 10 vote and Poe runs the risk of "appearing ridiculous" by declaring himself the winner.
Arroyo garnered 5,893,743 votes as against her closest rival Poe's 4,545,321 in the partial and unofficial tally released by the National Citizens Movement for Free Elections (Namfrel) at 12 p.m. Wednesday. Namfrel said it was already able to count election returns from 42.4 percent of total precincts nationwide.
Poe, Arroyo's closest rival, angrily rejected preliminary "quick counts" and exit polls showing that Arroyo was the likely winner, saying: "We have won the election and they (the administration) know that."
Bunye further said Poe is at risk of being investigated by the Commission on Elections (Comelec), which could conduct an investigation on its own on the KNP candidate's early proclamation. He added that Poe should be more responsible for the statements he made.
Poe began a barnstorming tour of the southern island of Mindanao to gather evidence of fraud he alleges was committed by the government.
"You know what is happening in Mindanao, what they are doing not just in Mindanao but in the whole Philippines," Poe said in the southern port city of Zamboanga.
Widespread fraud
Two other candidates, television evangelist Eduardo Villanueva and former senator and education secretary Raul Roco, have also said the polls were tainted by widespread fraud.
In another forum in the southern city of Cagayan de Oro, Poe ruled out conceding to Arroyo, saying: "I am not used to retreating."
"Nowhere is it in my dictionary that you can find the word, 'quit'," Poe added.
"I am not fighting for my presidency but for the people who believe there should be change," he said.
Poe, the country's most popular film star, also lashed out at the justice department for threatening on Tuesday to prosecute anyone publishing election counts.
The justice department had warned media against publishing misleading news reports, saying they could be used to destabilize the government by discrediting the elections.
Only the Commission on Elections and the watchdog group, the National Citizens Movement for Free Elections (Namfrel) were sanctioned to carry out "quick counts" and all the other media were barred from doing so.
Poe said this was an attempt to muzzle the press.
Manual count
Official results of the May 10 vote are not expected to be in for at least two more weeks due to the laborious manual counting of the ballots.
Namfrel in its latest tally Wednesday found Arroyo in the lead with 1,328,422 more votes than Poe, her closest rival.
In the vice presidential race, Sen. Noli de Castro got 6,717,881 votes, or 1,248,939 more than Sen. Loren Legarda, who has garnered 5,468,942 votes.
Poe attacked the Namfrel's numbers, saying the group was clearly partisan and was intentionally releasing voting results from Arroyo bailiwicks first in order to give her the appearance of a false lead.
This year's campaigning and elections have been the most bitterly fought in recent years. The national police in its report Wednesday said there was a 30 percent increase in the number of poll-related casualties compared to the 1998 vote.
Bunye, asked if the present administration was preparing a Cabinet transition team in case of a Poe win, said "it has not been discussed, quite frankly."
He also denied that President Arroyo has claimed victory in the presidential polls.
"We're not claiming victory, what we're saying is there are reports, there are advance counts by the Namfrel which tends to show that the President is leading. We do not want to be very presumptuous and we've been very guarded with our comments as far as the results is concerned. As we have said time and again, it's only Congress that can officially and finally proclaim any winning candidate," Bunye said.
He added that Arroyo at present continues to focus on governance as she awaits the results of the canvassing. JMR/(With AFP) |
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