Philippine lawmakers expect their official tallying of votes for president and vice president in the May 10 elections to be reasonably quick, but some allegations of poll fraud could possibly delay the proclamation of winners. A joint sitting of Congress to officially name the national leaders was brought forward by a week to May 24 after a new automated voting system produced results far quicker than the manual counting of previous elections. Senator Benigno Aquino has a massive lead in the unofficial presidential vote count, consistent with opinion polls, and the House of Representatives probe into allegations of fraud and problems with voting machines is not expected to change that. “We expect it to be faster than previous tallies,” Arthur Defensor, a three-term congressman who was elected governor of the central province of Iloilo, said in a television interview. In 2004, Gloria Macapagal Arroyo's victory was confirmed on June 23, just a week before her inauguration as president and the start of new terms of all elected national and local officials. Nine senators and nine congressmen have been selected to conduct the official tally of votes from 274 provinces, cities and embassies and consulates across the world next week. “We are looking at three weeks,” Senator Miguel Zubiri, an ally of the outgoing Arroyo, told reporters, saying he would ask the election agency to explain claims of irregularities about the vote count and transmission. “We have to look at the authenticity of the flash cards, the authenticity of the certificates of canvass. We can't easily take as gospel truth whatever we'll see in those documents.” At Friday's hearing, the chairman of the committee on suffrage and electoral reforms, Teodoro Locsin, a member of Aquino's Liberal Party, said he believed the Arroyo government was behind the initial allegations that prompted the probe. A government spokesman said Locsin's remarks were unsubstantiated and illogical. Earlier this week, a video was released of an unidentified masked man claiming to work for the elections commission and saying votes been sold and voting machines pre-programmed. “We already know who is behind ‘koala boy',” election agency spokesman James Jimenez said, using the nickname given to the masked man, but did not identify him. “He is a losing candidate.” The election commission had earlier said it has discovered discrepancies involving about 150,000 votes, not enough to have an impact on the presidential race. A messy transition or drawn-out investigation could erode the positive sentiment generated by what was seen as a relatively smooth election process and the clear victory of Aquino, who has vowed to fight corruption. Juan Ponce Enrile, current President of the 24-member Senate, who was re-elected for a six-year term, said lawmakers would not entertain protests during the official tallying of votes except when discrepancies were found. “The fraud can be handled by the election tribunal,” Enrile said, adding lawmakers would tally votes and declare the winners. On Friday, the third day of the House hearings, more allegations of poll fraud and failures of the automated machines were made by lawmakers who lost their re
