MANILA, 7 June 2007 — Malacañang Palace finally accepted defeat in the senatorial race as the Commission on Elections yesterday proclaimed 10 of the 12 newly-elected senators, with only two of them allied to President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo.

Hours before the proclamation, presidential Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita said the Arroyo administration was recognizing the overwhelming victory in the May 14 senatorial race of Arroyo’s critics.

“The mandate has been given by the people. There’s nothing that the Palace can say about it,” said Ermita during his regular press briefing at the Palace.

“This is the behavior of the voters, we have to respect them,” added Ermita, who said he looks forward to working with the new Senate.

Ermita also said it was unfair for some quarters to blame Malacañang for the defeat of most members of the Team Unity slate.

“They were the ones who went around the country. They know they can only depend on the administration to a certain extent. The administration did its best to help boost the candidacy of” its senatorial candidates, he said.

Losing TU bets could “try again” in 2010. “It’s not for me to say where we went wrong. Many of us know the factors to win an election. If this don’t happen, we can try again sometimes and confront that situation to win.”

As to the choice of candidates, he said there was “no sure-fire formula, the results speak for itself ... becomes part of something to be studied for future political exercise,” he stressed.

There was no word from Arroyo, who was in China yesterday on the last leg of a three-country visit that started Sunday in Italy, followed by Portugal.

Election Chairman Benjamin Abalos said the poll body would declare the two remaining winners after charges of cheating are dealt with, hundreds of thousands of missing ballots located and all the votes tallied. The Commission on Elections failed to tally any votes yesterday because about 840,000 votes from at least three provinces in the south could not be accounted for.

About 300,000 votes from the southern province of Maguindanao have also been set aside after 12 pro-administration candidates swept the elections there. At least 19 candidates got no votes at all and there was an unusually high 96 percent voter turnout.

The Winners

Loren Legarda, a former senator, topped the list of winners, which also include six of her party mates in the Genuine Opposition or GO. Only two came from the administration Team Unity — re-electionists Edgardo Angara and Joker Arroyo.

Two independent candidates, Francis Pangilinan and Gregorio “Gringo” Honasan, a former army colonel freed on bail while fighting allegations of involvement in several coup plots, also won seats.

Nearly all ballots from 300,000 precincts have been canvassed and poll officials say the just over one million votes left to count will make little difference to the top 10.

But Antonio Trillanes IV and Aquilino Pimentel III, who occupy the 11th and the 12th slots, would only be proclaimed after the last of the final votes were tallied, officials said.

Trillanes, in detention for the 2003 mutiny, has so far garnered 10,977,680 votes, while Pimentel has 10,656,050.

Tabulation of the results from the southern provinces of Basilan, Surigao del Norte and Lanao del Sur, has been suspended because of opposition allegations that ballots were “manufactured” to show administration candidates winning.

The opposition now appears set to dominate the 24-seat Senate. Of the 12 Senate seats not contested, allies of Arroyo hold seven while the opposition have the rest.

Not a Peso Spent

Legarda arrived with a big group of supporters, followed by Honasan.

She was overheard jokingly tell Honasan that it was unfair for him to have won the elections without spending much on the campaign. Honasan just smiled back at Legarda who was shaking people’s hand and posing with people she met.

Former President Corazon Aquino, who arrived early wearing a yellow dress, said she had been confident about her son’s chances of victory, noting that pre-election polls consistently showed him in the top 10.

Aquino noted that the May elections and the canvassing were conducted “in slow motion,” and called for faster, cleaner elections, like that in France.

“I hope there will come a day that we will be able to know the results of the elections after a day and won’t worry about possible cheating,” she said.

Lacson said the entry of more opposition senators would mean a more “independent” Senate.

“Even in the choice of the Senate leadership, this is one time in a very, very long time that the Palace won’t be able to dictate the Senate leadership, and the officers of the Senate, and chairs of the committees,” Lacson said.

Sad, Overwhelmed

Angara admitted he felt sad that only a few of his party mates won. “Nonetheless, I can work with anyone in the Senate. What I pray is that we can become a working Senate, and work together and not only engaged in debates and privilege speeches,” he added.

Escudero, who was accompanied by his wife, said that they are wary about the fate of Trillanes and Pimentel. Escudero said GO lawyers are looking into the issue of dealing with the remaining votes that has yet to be counted.

Cayetano said he felt “overwhelmed” by his victory despite legal efforts to stop his bid in the Senate.

He vowed to champion reforms in the elections laws and plug loopholes which he found as he went through several legal cases including one involving a petition to declare namesake Joselito Cayetano a nuisance candidate and another on a case questioning his citizenship.

Crowds of Comelec employees and supporters greeted each senatorial-elect who entered the PICC building. Some even posed with the winning candidates.

Last to arrive were Pangilinan and Villar who was mobbed by fans, Comelec employees, and the media. Joker Arroyo did not attend his proclamation.

Despite the opposition victory in the Senate race, Ermita said the government would not be affected. “This is not the first time that a president was confronted with a Senate that has a majority of its members with the opposition,” said Ermita.

“We are confident that those who got elected are responsible enough and mature enough.”

Arroyo’s allies say they won most of the 220 districts in 81 provinces represented in the House of Representatives.

That means the opposition will not be able to muster enough House votes to pass a third impeachment complaint against Arroyo on allegations of corruption and rigging the 2004 election.

Two earlier attempts were blocked by Arroyo’s allies.

Ermita said the House majority will be key for the administration.

“We consider the House support a big thing because important laws like the budget emanate from it,” Ermita said on Radio DZXL.

Ermita also said the bloc of seven to eight pro-administration senators would be a force to reckon with in the upper chamber.

“They are very dependable political allies. They know they can stand their ground,” he said, naming incumbent senators Richard Gordon, Juan Ponce Enrile and re-elected senators Angara and Arroyo as “veteran parliamentarians ... who are very supportive” of the president.

Besides the four, the administration can count on Manuel “Lito” Lapid, Ramon “Bong” Revilla Jr. and Miriam Defensor-Santiago.

Rumors have circulated that senator-elect Gregorio Honasan had made a pact with President Arroyo, even as both sides denied this.

Ermita, however, said: “I didn’t hear Senator Honasan saying he will use the Senate as a (forum) for destabilization. I don’t think any responsible political leader will say that.”

“My call is let’s help in stabilizing the situation rather than trying to make statements that may destabilize and will not be good for the country,” he said. (Input from Inquirer News Service & Agencies)