Arroyo, Poe in tight race in Philippines
Inquirer/ ANN, Manila
President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo and actor Fernando Poe Jr. were neck and neck in the presidential race as of Monday night, according to partial and unofficial results of a quick count being conducted by a private computer school.The quick count by AMA Education System showed Panfilo Lacson in third place, followed by Eddie Villanueva and Raul Roco. As of 8:40 p.m., Arroyo had 109,134 votes, while Poe had 108,642 votes, or a difference of only 492 votes. Lacson had 53,186 votes, Villanueva, 27,212 and, Roco, 27,144. In the vice presidential race, Loren Legarda was ahead of Noli de Castro by 16,921 votes. Legarda had 150,377 votes and De Castro, 133,456. Hermie Aquino had 20,101. The votes came from 9,794 precincts, representing 3.3 percent of the total of 295,459 precincts nationwide. Karim Bangcola, AMA executive president, said the 9,794 precincts were located in 62 towns and cities in Luzon, the Visayas and Mindanao. AMA is conducting the quick count for "Eleksyon 2004," the coverage of the local and national elections by GMA-7, Philippine Daily Inquirer, Inq7.net, PLDT, Smart, Catholic Media Network, the Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism, dzBB and New Media Inc. AMA is owned by Amable Aguiluz V, presidential consultant on computer education during the Estrada administration. But Aguiluz is widely believed to be supporting Arroyo. The partial results came from Butuan (119 precincts), Legazpi (98), Balanga (1), Batangas City (153), Lipa City (96), Nasugbu, Batangas (33), Baguio (166), Tagbilaran (33), City of Valencia (119), Malolos (83), Meycauayan, Bulacan (80), Tuguegarao (223), Iriga (8), Naga City (145), Roxas (39), Bacoor, Cavite (47), Dasmariņas, Cavite (205), Cebu City (206), Lapu-lapu (129), and Mandaue (29).
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