Philippine Vote Now Has 3 Self-Declared Winners

MANILA —  The ever-stranger saga of the Philippine presidential election took another twist Saturday when a third major candidate declared himself the apparent winner, challenged the official counting process and asserted that the race was so muddled that Congress ultimately will be forced to pick the president.

Business tycoon Eduardo Cojuangco Jr., a close associate of former dictator Ferdinand E. Marcos, announced that computer projections based on returns so far from Monday’s election showed he had “the necessary margins to ultimately be declared the winner of this election.”

No one knows for certain, however, since the only authorized but still unofficial tally, known ironically as the “quick count,” had tabulated only 16% of the precincts by late Saturday, five days after the voting. They showed former Defense Secretary Fidel V. Ramos had widened his lead with 870,557 votes. In second place was former Judge Miriam Defensor Santiago with 770,907 votes. Cojuangco was third with 581,696 votes.

Both Ramos and Santiago have predicted their own victories. Santiago led several thousand people in a peaceful gathering Saturday in Iloilo, 265 miles south of Manila, in a show of support against what she has called “wholesale election fraud” aimed at stealing the election from her. Originally called a mass protest, the meeting was changed to a “prayer rally” after election officials cautioned that it might violate campaign laws.

At a press conference at his sprawling estate in Quezon City, Cojuangco said that growing allegations of cheating and disputes over the “quick count” tallies would force the race into a joint session of Congress for final resolution. Under the constitution, the 200-member House of Representatives and 24-member Senate must proclaim the winner before the present government leaves office on June 30.

How they would mediate or validate a disputed election was not immediately clear. What was clear was that Cojuangco’s campaign believes it is to its advantage to move the election away from the ballot boxes and into the political arena.

“As far as we’re concerned, this race is going down to the wire,” said Tony Gatmaitan, Cojuangco’s chief strategist. “The final arbiter of this election will be the Congress.”

“It’s a royal mess,” said Jerry Barican, an attorney who ran for Senate on Cojuangco’s ticket. “A real mess. Who’s going to be able to govern after this?”

“In the Philippines, you don’t have winners and losers,” said a Western diplomat who attended the news conference. “You have winners and those contesting the elections.”

The longer the uncertainty of counting goes on, he added, the less credibility the final results will have.