Arroyo proclaimed president, de Castro named vice president

A joint Congress proclaimed incumbent President Gloria Arroyo and her running mate Senator Noli de Castro as president and vice president early this morning.

This follows 12 hours of deliberations by the ruling and opposition parties in the bicameral Congress yesterday.

Arroyo and de Castro arrived in the Congress at four this morning to accept their proclamation. "We have agreed we will finish the proclamation by four in the morning," said Senate President Franklin Drilon earlier.

Opposition senator Vicente Sotto said that the opposition could not really stop Arroyo's proclamation because they are outnumbered in Congress.

"We have complaints, but the ruling party has the numbers," said Sotto.

The opposition asked for an extension of the session from six hours to 12 hours before both parties could vote on the majority and minority reports.

In presenting its own minority report, the opposition claimed that Poe won in the May 10 polls, with a small margin of more than 300,000 votes.

The 22-man congressional counting committee said in a majority report that Arroyo won by 1.123 million votes over Poe.

Welcoming the debate in Congress, Bunye said, "The opposition should be given a chance to ventilate its minority report and the people must be informed of it."

"The administration has ample control over Congress to see to it that it substantially meets its constitutional mandates on time," Bunye said. "(At the same time), the president has issued the call for unity and reconciliation. The times call for all the people to gather around these principles as we face tough times ahead," he added.

With optimism, Senate President Franklin Drilon and House Speaker Jose de Venecia expressed confidence that Arroyo and de Castro will be proclaimed today or tomorrow.

Even before the joint Congressional meeting at the House of Representatives in suburban Quezon City started in the afternoon, the opposition lawmakers said they would not sign the report of the 22-man congressional counting committee which said that Arroyo won over actor Fernando Poe.

At the same time, the police said they seized 75 kgs of ammonium nitrate, detonating cords, blasting caps, alarm clocks, C-4 explosives, cans of gasoline, and guns in the house of former policeman Roberto Camarista in Quezon City.