ZAMBOANGA CITY, 20 May 2004 — Opposition presidential candidate Fernando Poe Jr. yesterday declared that he won the May 10 Philippine national election and accused President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo’s camp of cheating in a grand scale.

“Panalo tayo (We won),” Poe said press conference at the Garden Orchid Hotel in the southern city Zamboanga yesterday.

He said he was leading by a wide margin in Mindanao but his lead was never projected in the media and in the National Citizen’s Movement for Free Elections (Namfrel) quick count.

Poe said he and other opposition candidates came to Mindanao not to incite unrest but to prevent fraud that would favor Arroyo.

Among those who came to Zamboanga with Poe Senators Gregorio Honasan and Vicente Sotto III, seven congressmen, three governors, and several mayors.

Police at the Zamboanga airport said also with Poe was former general Braullo Balbas, who had been tagged by the military as one of those allegedly recruiting active soldiers to join a plot to destabilize the government.

One airport policeman said they were on the lookout for army Col. Jose Gamus, who was also reported recruiting soldiers and civilians to join the plot.

Both Gamus and Balbas had denied the charges.

Sotto, Poe’s personal campaign manager, said the Koalisyon ng Nagkakaisang Pilipino (KNP) had gathered enough evidence against the administration and its supporters. But he said these were being ignored because even the media appeared to be favoring the President.

Sotto said Poe was in Mindanao to verify reports that Poe got zero or very low scores in some municipalities in the region.

“We were presented copies of the COCs (certificates of canvass) and FPJ (Poe’s initials) won in all,” Sotto said.

Sotto and KNP Mindanao regional chairwoman Lualhati Antonina said Poe and his team would also visit Cagayan de Oro City and General Santos City later yesterday.

Antonina declined to comment on Poe’s alleged remark that Namfrel was “partisan.”

“As of now, yes they are,” reports quoted Poe as saying when newsmen asked him in a briefing whether he thought the poll watchdog was “partisan.”

Poe salso accused the independent watchdog Namfrel, or National Citizen’s Movement for Free Elections, of being part of a grand scheme to deny him victory. He said the Namfrel never reported his lead in the canvassing of votes.

“We know what they are doing. We are ahead by a wide margin against Arroyo based on the quick count of television network ABC 5, but the figures coming from other tallies are different,” Poe said. “I would like you to know that the presidency is no longer at stake here, but it is the people’s will that is now at stake.”

“Nevertheless, I am calling on all my supporters to be calm,” he said.

As of 7 last night, Arroyo was ahead of Poe by over 1.2 million votes, with about 44.5 percent of total votes tallied.

Poe said he was leading in an unofficial count by private television station ABC 5 when the network was ordered Monday by the Commission on Elections (Comelec) to stop reporting results.

The ABC 5 count began last Thursday, but it was ordered stopped on Monday, before it was able to update with Arroyo in the lead.

Official results from a notoriously slow hand count are expected next month.

Justice Secretary Merceditas Gutierrez has warned that people or groups disseminating “false news or information” about election results face possible legal action.

The station decried the decision, saying “our election coverage ... was premised to be precisely that — a report of the election count, ours and that of other organizations.”

Press Freedom

Also yesterday, the National Union of Journalists of the Philippines (NUJP) criticized the government of suppressing press freedom by issuing the gag orders.

“Secretary Guttierrez’s threat only undermines the same democracy that her superior, President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, purports to uphold,” it said.

Presidential spokesman Ignacio Bunye said critics were “barking up the wrong tree” since election affairs are handled by the Comelec. He denied there was a threat to press freedom, saying the government agencies were “merely reminding” the public that only Namfrel is allowed by law to conduct a parallel count with the Comelec.

Commission spokeswoman Milagros Desamito said the election body only wanted a “written explanation” from ABC 5 regarding the basis for its count.

“We want the public to be informed, not misinformed,” she said. “This is a temporary restraint on them.”

Bunye said Poe “runs the risk of being ridiculous” for telling people in Mindanao that he won in the last election.

Bunye reminded the opposition that it was only Congress that can proclaim the winning candidate.

He declined to comment whether or not Poe violated the law by making such an announcement.

“That question should be addressed to Congress,” he said.

“What we are saying is that only Congress can officially proclaim a winning candidate. Anybody who does so does it at his own risk. But definitely, any proclamation private or otherwise, will not count unless it is a proclamation of Congress,” Bunye said.

Unlike Poe, Bunye said the administration did not make any direct statement that Ms. Arroyo won in the polls although the Palace admitted that it was preparing for her next term.

“We are not claiming victory but we are saying that there are advance counts by Namfrel, which tends to show that the president is leading,” Bunye said.