MANILA, 24 June 2004 — Congress proclaimed incumbent Gloria Macapagal Arroyo as the 14th president of the Philippines shortly before dawn today.

Senate President Franklin Drilon and House Speaker Jose de Venecia raised Arroyo’s hands in a sign of victory.

Congress also proclaimed Arroyo’s running mate Senator Noli de Castro as vice president in a joint session that saw lawmakers working for 10 straight hours since late yesterday to approve the committee report, which showed that Arroyo and de Castro won in the May 10 election.

At around 2 a.m., the two houses of Congress approved the canvassing committee’s report and an accompanying resolution to proclaim Arroyo and de Castro.

Arroyo, clad in a powder blue dress, was accompanied by her husband, Jose Miguel Arroyo and her three children.

Opposition lawmakers allied with Koalisyon ng Nagkakaisang Pilipino’s (KNP) losing candidate Fernando Poe Jr. warned that Arroyo’s government would be hounded by doubts because of what they described as a “flawed canvassing.”

Sen. Sergio Osme?a III and Sanlakas party-list Representative Jose Virgilio Bautista said they voted against the committee report because they did not know who really won in the election.

Drilon said the president should now begin extending the hand of reconciliation to her political foes, but warned that the practice of “forging too many compromises is often mistaken for unprincipled political pragmatism.”

“This fresh mandate should be translated into the political will needed to pursue economic and political reforms in the country. Now is the time we put partisan politics behind us and let governance begin,” Drilon said.

The approval followed hours of acrimonious debates as opposition legislators tried to stall the proceedings.

Stolen Victory

Opposition Senator Aquilino Pimentel Jr., in his sponsorship of the “minority report” after the joint session resumed at 11:30 p.m., again accused Arroyo of engaging in widespread cheating during the election.

Pimentel said it was movie actor Fernando Poe Jr., the main opposition candidate, who won. The revised tally would have shown that Poe won over Arroyo by “some 510,000 votes,” Pimentel said.

The “rough computation” will also reveal that Senator Loren Legarda won as vice president, with a lead of “some 702,000 votes” over Senator Noli de Castro, Pimentel said.

“Mrs. Arroyo stole this election from Mr. Poe,” Pimentel said. “Even the blind can see the flaws in the report of the joint committee,” he said.

Pimentel appealed to his colleagues to “vote with their conscience” on the report sponsored by members of the majority bloc where Arroyo and de Castro won.

“It is no longer a contest between Mrs. Arroyo and Mr. Poe. It is now a matter where the interests of the nation lie,” he said.

Pimentel said the election returns that would have made Poe win were those from the provinces of Cebu, Pampanga, Bohol, and Iloilo, where Arroyo got about two million votes. She led Poe by 1.2 million in the official canvass.

Pimentel also claimed that the reopening of ERs from the provinces of Basilan, Sulu, Sultan Kudarat, Tawi-Tawi, Lanao del Norte, and Lanao del Sur province would have “revealed that Oplan Mercury was in fact implemented.”

Oplan Mercury, which businessman Rodolfo Galang disclosed to media early this week, was the codename for alleged cheating operations by the administration in Mindanao.

Standing on Solid Ground

Pro-administration legislators, on the other hand, said the results of the congressional canvass stood on “legal and solid ground,”

In separate sponsorship speeches at the joint session, Senate Majority Leader Francis Pangilinan and Deputy Speaker Raul Gonzalez defended their decision not to go down to election returns and their refusal to enter alleged evidence of election fraud from their counterparts in the opposition.

“In sum, the joint canvassing committee’s results all stand on solid legal ground,” Pangilinan said.

Pangilinan reiterated that the conditions for the opening of ERs during the canvassing were not met and that this would have caused “undue delay.”

He added accepting evidence of fraud would mean “usurping the authority of other institutions.”

The opposition should have brought its fraud charge before the Presidential Electoral Tribunal or criminal courts, Pangilinan said. Pangilinan also belied allegations the pro-administration majority “railroaded” the proceedings.

Pangilinan described the canvassing as the “most intensely debated” in the nation’s history.

Committee member Western Samar Eduardo Nachura described the canvass, which lasted two weeks, as the “longest, most fractious and most discordant.”

He also took a swipe at the opposition for “fomenting conflict” by hurling charges of massive fraud at the administration.

He said the canvass divided the nation and “would exact an exorbitant price on the country’s stability.”

Reconciliation

President Arroyo and her aides in Malaca?ang Palace spent the day yesterday calling for unity and reconciliation, apologizing to political rivals who they said could have been hurt by harsh remarks during the election period.

“ If the opposition was hurt, we apologize. It was only a reaction to the taunts against the President,” Arroyo’s campaign spokesman Michael Defensor said in an interview over local radio.

“ Let us set aside the hurting and strong words. It is time for us to unite,” he said.

Defensor echoed the president’s call for the people and all political leaders to end the bickering and instead unite for the country.

Opposition leader Sen. Edgardo , however, dismissed Arroyo’s offer of reconciliation as an “empty rhetoric.”

“That (offer) is okay but it has no flesh and blood,” “It’s empty. It’s rhetoric,” Angara said.

Angara said it was not the opposition’s style to scramble for “spoils.”

“We don’t want reconciliation in exchange for patronage,” he said.

Angara also vented his ire on fellow opposition Sen. Panfilo Lacson, whom he accused of being a “sugo” (“an emissary”) of Malaca?ang Palace for his softening stance toward the administration.

“Siya ay talagang sugo ng administration (He is really an emissary of the administration),” Sen. Edgardo Angara told reporters. “The subsequent events confirm (this).” But Angara said Lacson was “no longer important.”

Lacson left the Laban ng Demokratikong Pilipino (LDP), where Angara is president, when he ran against actor Fernando Poe Jr., whom the LDP and two other opposition groups supported.

But Lacson and Poe lost to Arroyo based on Congress’ official canvass.

On Monday, Lacson urged defeated candidates to help unite the country as he acknowledged Arroyo as the “clear winner” of the May 10 election.

When asked if Poe will concede, Angara said: “I don’t know.”

Angara also defended Poe from Lacson’s criticism that he should stop making statements since the popular actor was “not the opposition.”

“I think he has no morals, or any basis to say that because he is not an opposition leader,” Angara said.