EDITORIAL - Finish this

It’s all over but the proclamation, going by the insurmountable lead that President Arroyo posted yesterday in the congressional canvass. The battle, however, isn’t over. There’s still the legal challenge to the canvassing, which the Supreme Court is expected to tackle this week. There are still the opposition’s allegations of cheating, which have so far remained in the realm of a fishing expedition, but which continue to fuel security alerts amid rumors of destabilization. The administration continues to expect opposition lawmakers to walk out in protest over the results of the canvassing.

The battle in Congress had its comic moments, but the entertainment value quickly wore off for the public and canvass fatigue set in. Two weeks to proclamation day and we still don’t have a final, official word on who will be the next president and vice president, even if the National Canvassing Board has been working until way past midnight and on weekends. It’s been six weeks since election day – enough time for anyone to gather incontrovertible evidence that a candidate has been cheated of victory.

Especially if the candidate is Fernando Poe Jr., standard-bearer of a coalition of three opposition parties and President Arroyo’s strongest challenger. Poe’s camp had the machinery, the war chest, the expertise and enough supporters at the grassroots to collect any evidence of cheating. Instead what has his camp presented to the nation as the canvassing numbers go steadily against him? Poe jumping the gun on everyone by proclaiming himself the winner by about half a million votes. Hooded witnesses crying fraud. Alleged proof of cheating involving a few thousand votes. A walkout from the canvass – not by opposition lawmakers, but by lawyers of Poe’s camp. This, after the usual suspects in the administration had the brilliant idea of accusing the lawyers of serious illegal detention, finally giving the opposition some excuse to stage a walkout.

If it’s any consolation to Poe, most people believe there was cheating. The only question is whether the cheating was enough to deprive him of victory. If there is any evidence to prove this, it should have been unearthed long ago by his topnotch lawyers and political strategists, and presented to a nation ready to accept proof that Poe has won. Nothing of the sort has cropped up, six weeks after election day. It’s time to finish this canvass; the nation must move on.