But that’s only half the story. The presidential election is not by city or province, but by individual voter. In which case, bailiwicks and voting population matter. From that standpoint, it would appear that although Arroyo won in fewer locales, she won them big. Conversely, Poe won slim in more of them. The margins in their respective top 20 provinces and cities tell the full story:
| ARROYO | POE |
| Locale | Margin | Locale | Margin |
| 1. Cebu | 842,531 | Nueva Ecija | 315,782 |
| 2. Pampanga | 557,992 | Laguna | 282,290 |
| 3. Iloilo | 430,568 | Bulacan | 203,406 |
| 4. Bohol | 242,956 | Rizal | 186,347 |
| 5.Negros Occ | 195,285 | Quezon | 165,635 |
| 6. Maguindanao | 163,546 | Palawan | 130,893 |
| 7. Cebu City | 161,469 | Batangas | 113,908 |
| 8. Negros Or. | 140,703 | La Union | 112,513 |
| 9. Zambo Sur | 106,566 | Bataan | 105,115 |
| 10. Zambo Norte | 99,845 | South Cotabato | 96,285 |
| 11. Albay | 97,868 | Manila | 95,476 |
| 12. Southern Leyte | 96,958 | Isabela | 88,215 |
| 13. Leyte | 81,884 | Western Samar | 83,220 |
| 14. Agusan Norte | 72,277 | Misamis Oriental | 68,722 |
| 15. Iloilo City | 70,346 | Northern Samar | 65,130 |
| 16. Ilocos Sur | 64,696 | Ilocos Norte | 62,207 |
| 17. Capiz | 63,809 | Cavite | 56,030 |
| 18. Misamis Occ. | 55,819 | Caloocan City | 55,221 |
| 19. Bacolod City | 54,668 | Mindoro Occidental | 44,401 |
| 20. Surigao Norte | 53,546 | Mindoro Oriental | 42,567 |
| Total | 3,653,332 | 2,373,363 |
What Congress is canvassing should be the same figures of Arroyo’s K-4 and KNP. The COCs come in six carbonized copies. The original is for Congress. The fourth copy went to K-4, the dominant administration coalition; the fifth, to KNP, the dominant opposition. The sixth copy is for Namfrel, with which to reconcile provincial and city totals with 216,382 precinct returns. Any deviation of COC copies would mean that cheating occurred from precinct counts to the local canvassings, or the transmittal of COC copies to the designated recipients.
From the totals in their respective top 20 locales, Arroyo’s margin over Poe is 1,279,969 votes. The figures come from K-4 campaign manager Gabriel Claudio, who ran his own tally last week based on 95 percent of COCs that the coalition secured.
Taking only the top 10 provinces and cities, Arroyo’s total is 2,941,461; Poe, 1,712,174. Arroyo’s margin is 1,229,287, Claudio points out.
Claudio can’t help but crow. Taking only Arroyo’s top 3 locales (Cebu, Pampanga, Iloilo) against Poe’s top 10, her total is 1,831,091 over his 1,712,174. Arroyo’s margin is 59,515.
From the K-4 tally, Speaker Jose de Venecia reveals that Arroyo won by a total margin of 900,000 votes, and expects 300,000 more from locales where the coalition has yet to get its COC copies. Sen. Aquilino Pimentel claims that Poe won by 550,000 in the KNP’s own tally of COCs, but has yet to show the details. They can’t be both right. Only the Congress official count will say for sure.
In batting for the first fare increase in three-and-a-half years, in the wake of six fuel price surges this year alone, Transportation Sec. Leandro Mendoza recounts his own experience. A young police lieutenant in the ‘70s, he moonlighted as a jeepney driver to augment his meager pay. "It was tough," he sighs. "My pals would ply the routes for 12 hours each day. There were mornings when they’d wake up too bone-tires to drive. But they had to work; their families depended on the hand-to-mouth income."
It’s tougher today. While drivers used to net P300-P350 a day, the series of fuel price spikes has whittled it down to P120-P150. Instead of filling up, they’d buy fuel only by the liter to stretch every centavo. Some would tell their wives to wait by the corner at mid-morning as they drive by, hand over P50 for the kids’ lunch, then drive on till right.
Malacañang had staved off a fare hike since 2001 for commuters. But alternatives it gave to drivers were only eroded by the boundary system.
Under the system, the operator lets a driver take out the jeepney for a daily fee of P550-850. The operator handles periodic maintenance; the driver takes care of diesel and oil, accessories like batteries and tires, minor repairs, and washup at day’s end. Fuel eats up a third of drivers and conductors, who earn commissions from ticket sales.
Malacañang had abolished import duties on jeepney parts to bring down maintenance and repair costs. But it benefited mostly the operators. Oil firms were also asked to sell diesel at discounted rates in selected filling stations, with the differential passed on to the price of gas. But these were few and far between. Besides, only Luzon jeepneys use diesel; on the Visayas and Mindanao, Multicabs run on gas. A fare hike was inevitable.
Government is set to grant more than what drivers are pleading for. Instead of P1.50 additional for the first five kms for jeepneys, the increase would be for the first four; P2 for buses. Instead of 20¢ for each succeeding km, it would be P1. For good measure, President Arroyo ordered a week’s delay in implementation – so her men can insert a proviso that only drivers and conductors, not operators, would benefit from the fare hike.
Fair enough.