Aquino said he does not want to discuss such a meeting at this point when he has yet to be proclaimed.
“Since the canvass has yet to be completed, the offer seems premature,” Aquino said in a text message.
With regard to the snail-paced canvassing, he said their party still has to discuss and sort things out.
“Our allies in both chambers have not indicated issues regarding the canvassing,” he said, adding the vice presidential contest between his running mate Sen. Manuel “Mar” Roxas II and United Opposition’s Mayor Jejomar Binay is still too close to call.
Aquino prefers that Roxas, who gave way to him and ran for vice president instead, wins.
Roxas has not yet conceded to Binay, who is leading by a mere 800,000 votes in the
partial, unofficial tally. The same is true with Binay’s running mate, deposed President Joseph Estrada, who has refused to concede even if Aquino has amassed a lead of over five million votes in the partial, unofficial tally.
Two Liberal Party (LP) stalwarts have supported the proposal of Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile to create a joint technical committee that would examine audit logs of compact flash cards and precinct count optical scan (PCOS) machines.
Reps. Roilo Golez of Parañaque and Joseph Abaya of Cavite said the move would allow Congress, which now sits as the National Board of Canvassers (NBOC) for the president and vice president, to devote its time to tabulating the votes for the country’s two highest posts.
“This is an opportunity for Congress to ensure the integrity of our elections, and to ensure the completeness of the certificates of canvass we will tally,” Abaya said. “We welcome and support the proposal to create a technical committee to examine the CF cards.”
Golez also moved for the creation of the special tabulating body in a bid to make the job of the NBOC “easier and more accurate.”
“We are talking of only 76,000 election returns (ERs) equivalent to 76,000 PCOS machines. We have done this exercise in the party and with a small group we are able to tabulate something like 15 COCs a day, tabulating all the ERs,” he said.
“So if we constitute a committee on tabulators, maybe harnessing tabulators coming from the Senate and the House, we can do it at a much faster rate. We can probably do as many as 30 while we are going over the COCs coming from overseas,” he said.
“We can start with the tabulation so that we can do away with all this uncertainty and with all this speculation,” he added.
Abaya, LP secretary-general, welcomed the move, as it would give the joint Congress more time to focus on the canvassing of votes cast for the presidential and vice presidential races.
Enrile said the technical working group is necessary to scrutinize CF cards and the PCOS machines. A technical review, according to him, could be done simultaneously with the canvassing of the presidential and vice presidential votes.
GMA okays joint Cabinet meet
Meanwhile, outgoing Social Welfare Secretary Celia Capadocia-Yangco said Mrs. Arroyo has readily agreed to the suggestion of the newly created Presidential Transition Coordination Team for her to hold a joint meeting with Aquino and incoming Cabinet officials.
She said the advantage of holding such a meeting is that “there would be a very good transition and establishing rapport and a relation between the outgoing and the incoming so that in case there would be further questions, we know who are responsible.”
The President announced the creation of the transition team a day after the May 10 elections. It is chaired by Executive Secretary Leandro Mendoza and co-chaired by Presidential Management Staff chief Elena Bautista-Horn.
Presumptuous
But former senator Rene Saguisag said that such a suggestion would have best been made in private and not openly.
“The present Cabinet is presumptuous and self-important to say that it should meet with the incoming one,” Saguisag said.
“It is as if the new senators should meet the outgoing ones. In 1992, a new senator asked to meet me, but privately, which should be the discreet norm,” he added.
Saguisag argued that the failed policies of the present Cabinet “have been rejected by the people and should not be imposed on its successor.”
“I can imagine that a new Cabinet member may profit from meeting his predecessor, but they should not have to do it in a very public way, as if the rejected old would lecture the new, who should be give ample space,” he said.
Saguisag said the “caretaker should not be a lecturer” and if its intention is to offer advice to the next administration, then it should just wait for the other side to ask them.
“No one should overstay his welcome. As important as knowing when to arrive is knowing when to leave, and it should be while the audience is still applauding. Right now it is booing,” he said.
Palace has no demands
However, deputy presidential spokesman Gary Olivar clarified that Mrs. Arroyo and her administration are not demanding anything from the next administration and would not venture to offer any unsolicited advice.
“If the incoming government asks for advice from the outgoing, this will be given to them. If they don’t ask for advice then this will not be given,” Olivar said in Filipino over Radyo ng Bayan.
“If he (Aquino) wants a tour of Malacañang, then the President will give him a tour. If he doesn’t want this, then it’s okay. We will leave on our own steam,” he added.
Olivar said it would be up to the next administration to decide how thoroughly and how pleasantly they want to make the transition process.
“The only thing that we can do is to offer our hospitality and whatever experience we think they can learn from us. But it’s really up to them to decide if they want this or not,” he said.
Olivar reiterated that the Arroyo administration would only wish the best for the incoming administration. - By Delon Porcalla and Marvin Sy
Cabinet meetings under President Polk,
Remarks following a cabinet meeting and an exchange with reporters.(Week Ending Friday, September 9, 2005)(Transcript): An article from: Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents
