MANILA, 21 May 2004 — In a sign of worsening tensions over the May 10 Philippine presidential election, the military yesterday arrested an army colonel for allegedly campaigning for opposition candidate Fernando Poe Jr.
Col. Jose Gamus was arrested in the southern city of Zamboanga for engaging in acts contrary to the military’s nonpartisan stance, army spokesman Lt. Col. Buenaventura Pascual said.
Gen. Narciso Abaya, the armed forces chief of staff, told reporters that before the election, Gamus was “telling our soldiers that he will be ... the next commander of the presidential security group” and “was campaigning obviously” for Poe, the standard bearer of the opposition KNP.
Exuding confidence despite trailing in unofficial vote counts, Poe ordered his staff to look for a suitable site for his inauguration as president, eliciting a sharp reaction from Malaca?ang Palace.
“Mr. Poe is a stickler for tradition. He knows his history and he wants to take his oath of office on the same spot where presidents before him had vowed before God and people to obey all laws of the land,” the Coalition of United Filipinos (KNP) said in a statement.
An unofficial count of the May 10 election, by a citizens’ election watchdog sanctioned by the Commission on Elections, had Poe trailing President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo by less than 700,000 votes as of 2 this morning, based on results from about 55 percent of 216,000 precincts nationwide.
Poe claimed victory on Wednesday in Zamboanga, telling supporters: “We have won the election and they know it.”
He accused Arroyo’s administration of “massive cheating” and promised to provide proof.
One of his key supporters warned “there will be trouble” if Congress, which counts the votes for president and vice president and declares the winner, tallies ballots from allegedly spurious canvasses.
Poe’s party said he has received a “shortlist” of sites and will announce his choice soon.
The sites include the Quirino Grandstand in Manila, the traditional venue for presidential oath-taking and where Americans relinquished control over this former US colony in 1946; Calamba town, the birthplace of national hero Jose Rizal; Pangasinan, Poe’s home province; and General Santos, a bustling city in the south.
Congress will begin counting collated votes from the 79 provinces and absentee ballots next week. It is the most contentious phase of the electoral process. Lawyers for all parties could delay the count by raising issues concerning the certificates of canvass, discrepancies between written totals and the sum of individual entries and missing signatures of election officers.
Three other candidates are trailing far behind Arroyo and Poe.
Congress
Malaca?ang Palace yesterday urged Congress not to take Poe’s claim of victory sitting down. Ignacio Bunye, spokesman of President Arroyo, said it was “possible” Poe would replicate his claim of victory in Zamboanga City on Wednesday in other parts of the country.
At a press conference in Makati, Gabriel Claudio, general campaign manager of the administration coalition, challenged the KNP to prove Poe’s claim, which he described as “utterly false, malicious, contemptuous and dangerous.”
“If they succeed in creating the impression that their claims of victory differ from the final result of the elections, the country could become restless,” Claudio said. “We are now contemplating filing inciting to sedition charges against them.”
Poe did replicate his claim early yesterday, this time in Davao City, maintaining that he had won and that the administration and its alleged allies, the National Citizens’ Movement for Free Elections and the media, were continuing to ignore reality.
“Why is it that they are very quick to count if the votes are for (Arroyo) but very slow if the votes are for me?” he told reporters at the Grand Regal Hotel.
He was back in Manila yesterday afternoon. But Poe’s allies said the actor was merely “stating a fact” when he declared “Panalo tayo (We won)” at a press conference on Wednesday. “It was a statement he made after thanking his supporters and political leaders,” Sen. Vicente Sotto III, his campaign manager.
Not Claiming Victory
Dismissing the uproar generated by Poe’s remarks, Sotto said the administration was being “paranoid” in reacting adversely. “They’re paranoid because they cannot make such claim,” he added.
Poe’s spokesman, newly proclaimed Sorsogon Rep. Francis Escudero, said the actor was not claiming victory but telling his supporters that “we are winning.”
Escudero also said Poe visited Mindanao to tell his supporters “not to lose hope” and that the results of the Namfrel quick count, which showed Arroyo still leading the actor, were not official.
Escudero and Sotto said Poe had wanted to see for himself the situation in Mindanao, where reports of fraud had been aired.
Sotto said Poe did see such forms of fraud as vote-buying, tampering of election returns and disenfranchisement of voters.
He said Poe was considering visiting parts of Luzon and the Visayas before Monday, when Congress jointly convenes as a national board of canvassers to make the official count of the votes for president and vice president.
In Davao City, Poe said there was no doubt that he won but the tenant of Malaca?ang was preventing him from “changing the government.”
“To all of you who supported me, I am thankful. I thank you for your prayers, belief and principle,” he said.
Poe dismissed Bunye’s earlier statement that he should not declare victory because only Congress could make such a proclamation. “They know I won, so why prevent me from declaring victory?” he said in Filipino.
He assailed Malaca?ang and its supposed allies for what he called “glaring manipulation” and said: “That’s too much. This is too glaring and obvious to hide.”
Poe reiterated that his camp was not making empty accusations. He said that aside from documentary evidence, they were also able to secure the testimony of witnesses, including personnel of the Commission on Elections.
The looming standoff has caused concern in a country with recent episodes of political turmoil and military restiveness. Analysts predict some sort of confrontation and say the recriminations could continue to hound Arroyo if she’s proclaimed the winner.
Political analyst Benito Lim said much of the election tension is a fallout of the political turmoil in January 2001 when Arroyo was swept to power after helping lead massive protests that ousted President Joseph Estrada, Poe’s best friend and supporter, over corruption allegations.
“We’re seeing a rerun of those troubles,” Lim said. (Additional input from INS and Agencies)
