MANILA, Philippines - President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo (news - web sites) has won another term in office, a congressional committee announced Sunday after finishing a contentious vote count six weeks after the election.


AP Photo



The opposition, which has claimed Arroyo's camp manipulated the May 10 vote and cheated action film star Fernando Poe Jr. of some 2 million ballots, fought the proceedings all the way. Arroyo's victory margin was about 1 million votes.


The military and police have been put on full alert for possible trouble.


The end of the count paved the way for Arroyo's proclamation as winner by the full Congress. But the opposition still can question the committee's report on the count later this week or file a protest, after the proclamation, to the Supreme Court election tribunal that likely would take years to resolve.


Poe's people also have talked about a "people power" revolt like those that ousted dictator Ferdinand Marcos in 1986 and President Joseph Estrada (news - web sites), Poe's close friend, in 2001.


The congressional committee worked through the weekend and finally finished counting the last of 176 provincial summaries of votes, called certificates of canvass, late Sunday.


"The canvass is over. Arroyo has won," Senate President Franklin Drilon said.


"It was very difficult but this is democracy," he said, describing the infighting over the vote count as "harrowing."


The final tally had Arroyo with 12,905,808 votes and Poe with 11,782,232, a difference of 1,123,576 votes. Three other candidates were well behind.

GMA gets a fresh mandate from the people.

With the proclamation out of the way, let us hope that all the residual bitterness of the opposing parties would be washed away in the desire to focus on nation-building.

we deserve what we got...lacson is a lot betterthan this economist kuno. too bad he lost. gma won by design, not by fate..hehehheheh. weather-weather lang talaga....

now she wants malacanang to be in cebu -- as a reward for the most number of votes that she got?? sige...ummmm, let's see....let's have a ruler in mindanao ( they would jump for joy if this happens ) and one for luzon ( fpj won here, di ba? ).

come to think of it..minadanaoans always compain of the tyranny from manila...like the reason why catalans and basques abhor madrid.

oh well..let's put mikey in line to her throne na lang...

GMA did won by design... of the majority of the Filipino people. You don't know for a fact that it was otherwise.

And I don't think she said she wanted Malacañang to be in Cebu. Why put a plain expression of gratitude to the Cebuanos into a negative context?

There will always be a better leader than the newly elected one in the minds of individuals whose loyalty belongs to his/her rival. But the thing is, we now have a proclaimed president of our country. Could we not stop from sour graping and support her instead? Why don't we give her a chance to prove her worth, do her responsibilities for us pinoys and remedy the ailments of our country? Who knows, she may be the best among her rivals. Regardless of her edge among her rivals, what's important is that she may achieved her 10-point agenda for the next 6 years. If she achieved this, would you not be proud of your leader? The accomplishment of our president is not only hers alone, it's mostly the accomplishment of the Philippines and the Filipinos as a whole.

The most effective way for the development of our dear country is UNITY AMONG FELLOW FILIPINOS. It does not lie to one person only. All of us should work together. We should not think for the good of ourselves only, but for the good of our country and our fellow Filipinos.

As a result of this past electoral exercise, baka wala na pera ang gobyerno ni Aling Gloria. Lahat na ngang transaksyon mo sa gobyerno may bayad na at mahal pa, e.g. Birth Certificate, from P25 per document to P 110, Bureau of Immigration - P500 per transaction , kasi pang RUSH daw, tumaas na rin sa DTI, when you register your business name dati P300 - now P500 sa small business, IPO - from 1,600 , P 2,600 na to register your trademark. Pati Softdrinks and Text Messages tinitingnan na rin as a source of revenue, sa LTO, ultimong Tariff Matrix which is just a one page document, P500 per vehicle na..ano ba naman yan...?

These services should be free or the minimum payment should be made. Salaries are deducted outright na nga, dami ka pang babayaran. Ngayon pati Pork Barrel ng mga Congressman at Senador, aarborin na ni Aling Glo..hehhehe. Buti naman, in a way but then it shows na said na talaga ang kaban ng gobyerno. And we have no proof that GMA won by design???

Kasi naman, nagasta na lahat ang pondo sa eleksyon..para sigurado na panalo nya. Yep, the Cebu Mayor is right. Cebuano voters are definitely more intelligent than those like us who are here in Manila. Magkano kaya nakuha nila??

I've read about it (softdrinks and text message taxation) nga. You forgot to mention about sin taxes (for liquors and cigarettes). Good thing, hindi ako mahilig uminon ng soft drinks and liquors and hindi ako marunong magsmoke. Wala na rin panahon magtext. How about the millions of consumers? Kawawa naman sila.

The reason, the are eyeing for taxation on these products and service is that this would generate revenues since our economy is facing tight circumstances. Oil price increase, devaluation of RP peso, foreign debts, Napocor debts, etc. etc. Though, this would mean that more burden for Juan dela Cruz, the administration could only think of such measures to cushion the impact of economic crisis. If we are to objectively study the effectivity these taxations could bring, we would agree of its implementation.

I like the fact that the congressmen's pork barrel will be used in implementing GMA's ten-point agenda. Pasensya na sila They're filthy rich as it is.

About tax on text, well... I'd rather it were implemented in preference to a high debt burden. That is, assuming ALL of it will be used to pay our debts and it could get us out of the rut in the targeted time.

i also like that news. in fact, i'm thrilled. i just wish, they'd give it (proper portion of pork barrel) as soon as possible for the implementation of projects/programs connected to the 10-point-agenda. and i'm hopeful updates on these projects (especially the financial breakdown of expenses) will be known to the public. it is important that these funds will truthfully be use in compliance with the suject's contents.