Presidential elections, legislative elections and local elections were held in the Philippines on May 10, 2004. In the presidential election, incumbent president Gloria Macapagal Arroyo won a full six-year term as president, with a margin of just over one million votes over her leading opponent, highly popular movie actor Fernando Poe Jr.

The elections were notable for several reasons. This election first saw the implementation of the Overseas Absentee Voting Act of 2003 (see Wikisource), which enabled Filipinos in over 70 countries to vote. This is also the first election since the 1986 People Power Revolution where an incumbent president ran in the presidential election. Under the 1987 Constitution, an elected president cannot run for another term. However, Arroyo was not elected president, but instead succeeded ousted President Joseph Estrada, who was earlier impeached with charges of plunder and corruption in 2000 and later convicted on the plunder charge but received conditional pardon from Arroyo.

Moreover, this was the first time since 1986 that both the winning president and vice president were under the same party/coalition. This election was also held at a period in modern Philippines marked by serious political polarization. This resulted in lesser candidates for the presidential and vice presidential elections compared to the 1992 and 1998 elections.

Background

The political climate leading up to the 2004 elections was one of the most emotional in the country's history since the 1986 elections that resulted in the exile of Ferdinand Marcos. Philippine society has become polarized between the followers of former president Joseph Estrada who have thrown their support for Estrada's close associate Fernando Poe Jr. and those who support incumbent Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, or at best oppose Estrada.

The several months leading to the May elections saw several presidential scandals, Arroyo reversing her earlier decision not to run for president, the sudden but not unexpected candidacy of Fernando Poe Jr., defection of key political figures from the Arroyo camp to the opposition, the controversial automated elections initiative of the COMELEC, and the split of the dominant opposition party, Laban ng Demokratikong Pilipino, between Poe and Panfilo Lacson.

Gloria Macapagal Arroyo's candidacy

On a speech given on Rizal Day, December 30, 2002, Gloria Macapagal Arroyo declared that she would not run in the 2004 elections. Arroyo claimed that withdrawing from the race would relieve her of the burden of politics and allow her administration to devote the last year and half to the following:

First, strengthening the economy to create more jobs and to encourage business activities that are unhampered by corruption and red tape in government.

Second, healing the deep divisions within Philippine society.

Third, working for clean and honest elections in 2004.

This was hailed as a welcome development by many people, especially those in the business and economic sectors. Nine months later, on October 4, 2003, Arroyo completely changed her mind. Arroyo stated that her change of heart was for a higher cause and that she cannot ignore the call to further serve the country. Many people, especially those who held on to her commitment, were dismayed by her turnabout, though most were unsurprised since there had been clues months before that she would probably not stand by her earlier decision. Others welcomed this development, saying that she needs more time to implement her projects, and that she would be the strongest contender against a likely candidacy by Fernando Poe Jr.

Fernando Poe, Jr.'s candidacy

Months before the elections, members of the opposition have been encouraging Fernando Poe Jr., a close friend of former president Joseph Estrada to run for president. Poe was very popular with the masses and it was widely believed that he would be a sure winner if he ran for president.

On November 27, 2003, Poe ended months of speculation by announcing that he will run for president during a press conference held at the Manila Hotel.

However, on January 9, 2004, Victorino X. Fornier (a private citizen) filed a case against Poe and the COMELEC, saying that Poe wasn't eligible to run for he is not a natural-born Filipino before the COMELEC. On January 23, the COMELEC dismissed the petition for lack of merit. On February 10, Fornier finally filed the case to the Supreme Court, seeking Poe to be disqualified from the race. His case was later merged with cases filed by Maria Jeanette C. Tecson, and Felix B. Desiderio Jr., and by Zoilo Antonio G. Velez.

Death of Lawyer Maria Jeanette Tecson

On September 28, 2007, 8:30 p.m, Senior Superintendent Francisco Uyami, Pasig police chief stated that Lawyer Maria Tecson, 40, was found dead (in a state of rigor mortis) inside room 204 at the Richmond Hotel, San Miguel Avenue, Pasig (with her throat slit and with cuts on her wrist). Maria Jeanette Tecson, Zoilo Velez (promoted to Court of Appeals Justice) and Victorino Fornier filed the disqualification case against Fernando Poe Jr. She claimed Poe was born out of wedlock and that while Poe's birth certificate was dated 1939, his parents Allan Poe and American mother Bessie Kelly did not marry until 1940.

On March 3, the Supreme Court, said in its decision, that for lack of jurisdiction and prematurity, and ruling that Poe's father, Allan F. Poe would have been a Filipino citizen by virtue of the en masse Filipinization enacted by the Philippine Bill of 1902. Also, even if Poe wasn't a natural-born Filipino citizen, he cannot be held guilty of having made a material misrepresentation in his certificate of candidacy.

Eddie Villanueva's candidacy The Commission on Elections originally affirmed the candidacies of six people for the president. The sixth person running for president was Bro. Eddie Villanueva, spiritual director of Jesus is Lord Church. The party of Eduardo Villanueva filed a petition with the COMELEC seeking to disqualify Eddie Gil on the basis of him being a nuisance candidate, his incapacity to mount a nationwide campaign, and that because he was running with the aim to confuse voters because of their similar names.

The LDP split The Laban ng Demokratikong Pilipino party (LDP) would form the core of the main opposition party, the Koalisyon ng Nagkakaisang Pilipino (KNP). However, members of the party disagreed on which person to support for president. Panfilo Lacson, a member of the party, advanced his candidacy for president but was not considered by Edgardo Angara, the president of the party. Angara supported Fernando Poe Jr. Together with the party's secretary-general Agapito Aquino, Lacson gathered the support of some members of the party and went ahead with his candidacy. The LDP was subsequently polarized between those supporting Angara and Poe, and those for Lacson and Aquino.

By then, Poe and Lacson have both filed their certificates of candidacies. According to the rules of candidacy, every presidential candidate must have a political party to back him or her. With the obvious split within the ranks of the LDP, and with no signs that the two factions would come to an agreement, the COMELEC decided to informally split the party into the Aquino and the Angara wings. Lacson then ran under the LDP – Aquino Wing, and Poe under the LDP – Angara Wing, which would later become the KNP.

During the campaign period, there had been numerous unification talks between the two factions. The opposition saw the need to become united under one banner to boost their chances of winning the presidential election against the organized political machinery of Arroyo. The plans of unification did not materialize due to the stubbornness of both Poe and Lacson. Lacson wanted Poe to concede to him and run as his vice-presidential candidate while the supporters of Poe wanted Lacson to back out from his candidacy and instead support Poe, citing his low performance in the surveys.

COMELEC's move for an automated elections Elections in the Philippines have always been a manual process with the results for national positions often being announced more than a month after election day. An attempt to rectify this was done by the Commission on Elections by automating the process of counting the votes. More than 30 billion pesos were spent in acquiring counting machines that were never used in this elections because of numerous controversies and political opposition.

Timeline

2002

December 30 – President Arroyo declares that she will not run for president in 2004.

2003

October 4 – President Arroyo announces her intention to run for president. November 26 – Fernando Poe Jr. declares his intention to run for president. December 29 – Raul Roco, together with Herminiño Lagunzad filed their candidacies for the position of president and vice president. Senator Panfilo Lacson filed his candidacy as president without a running mate. December 30 – Fernando, Poe Jr. together with running mate Senator Loren Legarda filed their candidacies for the position of president and vice president.

2004 January 5 – President Gloria Arroyo and Senator Noli de Castro filed their candidacies for the position of president and vice president. January 13 – The Supreme Court nullified a contract for the computerization of the ballot-counting process, effectively forcing the Commission on Elections to revert to the manual counting of votes. February 10 – Start of the official campaign period for national positions March 3 – Poe was deemed as a natural born Filipino by the Supreme Court, thereby blocking any legal obstacles for his candidacy. March 25 – Start of the official campaign period for local positions May 10 – Election day May 10 – NAMFREL starts its quickcount tally. May 14 – Panfilo Lacson resigns from his party, the Laban ng Demokratikong Pilipino (LDP). May 14 – Grenade explodes at the General Santos City Hall where canvassing was taking place. No one was hurt. May 17 – Opposition groups stage protest at the PICC, site of the official COMELEC canvass for senators and party-list representatives. May 17 – Raul Roco concedes to Gloria Macapagal Arroyo. May 19 – Fernando Poe Jr., proclaims himself winner in Zamboanga City. May 25 – COMELEC proclaims the top 11 senators in its official canvass. May 28 – Congress approves the rules for the canvassing of the Certificates of Canvass for the presidential and vice-presidential positions. June 2 – The Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines issued a statement saying that the elections were generally peaceful and that there was no sign of massive electoral fraud on a nationwide scale. June 3 – The 12th senator, Rodolfo Biazon, was proclaimed by the COMELEC. June 4 – Congress, through the Joint Committee, starts canvassing the votes for the president and vice-president. June 8 – Supreme Court votes 14–0 against the KNP petition to declare the Congressional Joint Committee as the National Board of Canvassers unconstitutional. June 20 – The Congressional Joint Committee finishes the canvassing of votes for the president and vice-president; Arroyo is declared the winner. June 24 – The Congress approves the report of the Joint Committee officially proclaiming Arroyo the winner. June 30 – Gloria Macapagal Arroyo is inaugurated in Cebu City.

Parties and coalitions This election has seen strong shifts of alliances and new parties as candidates switched allegiances. The two major coalitions seen in this elections were the K-4 (Koalisyon ng Katapatan at Karanasan sa Kinabukasan), of the administration, and the KNP (Koalisyon ng Nagkakaisang Pilipino), the united opposition.

Koalisyon ng Katapatan at Karanasan sa Kinabukasan (K-4)