Arroyo, Legarda lead in partial counting of ballots at Congress

For the first time, incumbent President Gloria Arroyo and Senator Loren Legarda, the vice presidential candidate of the opposition, led in the partial counting of ballots in Congress yesterday.

After the counting of 50 certificates of canvass (CoCs) in the afternoon, which represent 10 per cent of the CoCs, Arroyo got a total of 61,911 votes, and actor Fernando Poe of the opposition, received 60, 907 votes.

Arroyo led Poe by 1,004 votes, after the counting of votes of the overseas Filipino workers in Singapore, Italy and Bahrain. After the counting of 40 certificates of canvass, Poe got a total of 58,936 votes, followed by Arroyo with 57,401 votes. Poe's brief temporary lead of 1,535 votes, occurred after the 22-man counting committee validated votes from Aurora province, in southern Luzon. It is a known opposition stonghold.

Other presidential candidates, opposition Senator Panfilo Lacson remained a third placer with 17,224 votes; former senator Raul Roco, fourth, with 14,196 votes, and evangelist Eduardo Villanueva, fifth with 13,071 votes.

Meanwhile, Senator Noli de Castro, Arroyo's running mate, got more votes from overseas Filipino workers abroad, but he failed to get past his rival, Senator Loren Legarda. Legarda stayed as a top vice presidential candidate, with 83,783 votes, followed by De Castro with 72,831 votes. Legarda's lead over De Castro stood at 10,952 votes.

Earlier, the counting of 40 certificates of canvass showed that Legarda got a total of 80,266 votes, followed by De Castro with 67,086 votes, or a lead of 13,180 votes over the pro-administration candidate.

Because of the close-fight between Arroyo and Poe, it is normal to see them have temporary lead, until the last ballot is counted in Congress, said Senator Franklin Drilon. "The problem is... it is tough to count votes in the Philippines," said an observer, adding the snail-paced and manual counting of ballots has been used by those who do not want Arroyo to win.

Congress started counting ballots on Friday, after the ruling and opposition parties agreed on the rules of counting ballots in the House of Representatives. Exit polls and pre-election surveys showed that Arroyo won over Poe by 8 per cent of the country's 35 million who voted on May 10.