MANILA -- For the international media, the Philippine elections are a done deal, since the head of the Commission on Elections in an all but orthodox manner unofficially let it be known that President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo beat her main contender, ex-movie star Fernando Poe Jr., by more than 900,000 votes. For the international wire services, this margin and the quality of the source were sufficient to declare the incumbent the winner.
But for the local media, the election saga is far from over. While Reuters and The Associated Press let the world know that Arroyo prevailed, the papers in Manila focused on the deliberations in the legislature aimed at finding a solution on how best to canvass the votes for the two highest elected officials of the land.
The opposition seems bent on prolonging this procedure in Parliament as much as possible. With the probable losers still far away from conceding defeat, it is not easy to identify their ultimate strategy. Lack of cohesiveness was one of the major weaknesses of the Poe campaign before the elections, and things have not become better since. Why should the opposition wish to draw out the process and further prevent the government from getting back to work, one may ask. More than one reason comes to mind.