The official vote tally for the presidency and vice-presidency was announced on June 20th. It brought to an end the prolonged and acrimonious deliberations of a 22-member joint congressional panel tasked with examining the certificates of canvass (CoCs) received from electoral districts around the country. Confirmation of the results was delayed by opposition-led disputes over procedure, and amid (unproven) accusations of vote-rigging.
Charlie*
Arroyo's vice presidential running mate, Noli de Castro, also won according to the House-Senate Committee tasked with counting the votes. Supporters of Poe, a popular former action-movie star, are claiming that vote certificates were modified to rob Poe of about 2 million votes. Poe's party said pro-Arroyo lawmakers used their large numbers in Congress to prevent the opposition from presenting evidence of the electoral fraud.
Hotchook
The Arroyo administration is smug about its claims that the elections were "generally peaceful and orderly," yet the last elections illustrated the worst of Philippine politics including - the massive use of government resources for GMA's campaign, rampant cheating and manipulation to secure GMA's victory, and the use of terror tactics against GMA's political rivals and progressive party-lists. The government practically tells us to accept massive corruption, fraud and state terrorism as part of our electoral culture. Whether GMA admits it or not, her railroaded proclamation by the administration-controlled Congress further exposed the rottenness of Philippine politics under the current political and economic system.
Jmekosh*
Even though the public wasn't leaping ahead in the polls, she later climbed to and stayed at the number one spot until the elections. She was campaigning against a film actor by the name of Fernando Poe, Jr. who just happened to be good friends with Estrada, not to mention the senator who had accused her husband of corruption. Despite these obsticals, she was able to win the elections this year and assume the Presidency last month, June 2004.
SpeedRacr
Arroyo isn't without her own set of problems. Not everyone within the Phillipines supports the new leader. On the eve of her inauguration, police dealt with about a thousand supporters of Fernando Poe, one of the presidential candidates Arroyo defeated in the recent election. Many of these supporters feel that Arroyo rigged the election, a charge that Arroyo strongly denies.
Kyrahjade
Currently, the President of the Philippines is Gloria Arroyo. She was freely elected and rather a ray of sunshine after other recent US embraced rulers of the country. But, she's still pro-US and has been a supporter of the war in Iraq. It doesn't hurt that the Filipino economy relies on the US Military employing a large portion of its employed workforce.
J Leroy
Fernando Poe Jr. (An actor friend of Estrada’s) decided to run against Arroyo and after the election the government was unable to come up with a clear-cut winner, as accusations of election fraud and voting irregularities surfaced. Depending on whose side tells the tale, Poe won or Arroyo won. They decided to have the election solved by recounting the votes under supervision of representatives from both camps, however with the ballot box stuffing, disappearance of poll workers, and a few other problems this was probably not the best way to do things. Finally on June 23 they proclaimed Arroyo the winner amid protests from a good portion of the Filipinos. Talking to different Filipino’s you get pretty much a split of opinions. Basically Arroyo supporters say it’s great she was elected and non-supporters feel robbed of their vote through a bogus recount process that was unconstitutional.
RWO
President Gloria Arroyo of the Phillippines has been blasted by the United States for caving to terrorism. But she wasn't elected to support Bush's crumbling coalition. In fact, she barely beat Fernando Poe Junior and faces more pressing problems from her constituents. Many of Arroyo's rivals believe the election was a fraud and stand ready to pounce on Arroyo for any perceived mistakes. The economy in the Phillippines and government spending are also taking their toll on the recently re-elected President.
Robert Brigham
