Opposition warned on march plan

The government led by its security officials yesterday warned opposition groups from pursuing a plan to march on the Presidential Palace to condemn allegations of fraud and vote rigging in last week's bitterly contested elections.

The warnings by the government of a plot emerged amidst the controversy over the May 10 elections whose results are being disputed by the opposition.

Presidential Spokesman Ignacio Bunye called on the opposition to act rationally to stem down the heat of the political controversies on the alleged election irregularities.

"We have to put our political controversies on a more rational plane to obviate public confusion and build confidence in our electoral system," he said.

"All sides must make it a rule to back up its allegations with proof, to avoid inflammatory rhetoric and to shun premature proclamations that undermine our duly constituted institutions," Bunye added.

Bunye said the candidates must also behave responsibly and practice the highest level of political maturity.

"All candidates entered the contest fully aware of the rules and let us abide by these. The public deserves no less than the highest form of statesmanship and reason from those who are vying for national leadership," he said.

"As I said, it is only Congress that can proclaim the winning presidential candidate, and it is perhaps necessary for Congress to make the proper statement or whatever move to stop unauthorised proclamations like this," said Bunye.

At the same time, Arroyo officials cautioned Poe that he could be playing into the hands of those seeking to destabilise the government.

Even before the elections, intelligence officials warned that certain figures might use allegations of cheating in the May 10 polls as a pretext to seize power.

The Commission on Elections recently said official results of the election will be finished in two weeks but exit polls and government-sanctioned "quick counts" show incumbent President Gloria Arroyo the obvious winner, beating Coalition of Nationally United Filipinos (KNP) bet Fernando Poe Jr., the country's most popular movie star. Elections watchdog National Citizens Movement for Free Elections (Namfrel), the only entity allowed by the government to conduct a "quick count", indicated Arroyo leading Poe by a slight margin.

However Poe has not conceded defeat and has refused to accept these results. He has also declared he is the real winner and that the Arroyo camp is cheating him of victory.

His supporters say Poe is already planning his inauguration as president. Namfrel secretary general Guillermo Luz said Poe's declaration violated the law, particularly the Constitution, which the actor would be sworn to uphold if ever he became president.

"The public can absolutely rely on Namfrel's results, as they have for the last 20 years. The Namfrel results are based on hard copy documents. Right now, we have a larger collection of hard copy documents than anybody except the Comelec.

And our hard copy documents are very stringently checked." Western Police District (WPD) Chief Superintendent Pedro Bulaong yesterday said over 300 policemen have been deployed.