MANILA, Philippines?The torch was passed to clamorous cheers in a blaze of yellow as Congress Wednesday proclaimed Sen. Benigno Aquino III the country?s next president and Makati Mayor Jejomar Binay vice president.

It brought a festive end to eight days of contentious canvassing following the country?s first nationwide automated elections.

Wild applause and loud cheering filled the session hall of the Batasang Pambansa in Quezon City as Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile and Speaker Prospero Nograles raised the hands of the country?s next leaders.

Aquino was declared winner at exactly 4 p.m., paving the way for a peaceful transition of power as President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo is set to step down on June 30 after nine years in office. Binay was proclaimed at 3:56 p.m.

The winners? families joined them at the podium, but Aquino?s girlfriend Shalani Soledad remained seated in the VIP gallery.

Ex-President Joseph Estrada, ousted in a popular uprising in 2001 and later convicted and imprisoned in 2007 on plunder charges only to be pardoned weeks later, accepted his political defeat.

?I join our people in extending unqualified support to the new President with both hope and prayers he will serve our country faithfully and will perform his duties honorably without fear or favor,? Estrada said in a statement read by his son Senate President Pro Tempore Jinggoy Estrada.

No objections were heard at the joint session as the floor leaders moved for the proclamation, and the affirmative rulings sent the Aquino and Binay supporters into a frenzy of chanting.

Binay?s supporters were more vocal, loudly chanting ?Binay, Binay? at every chance they got.

The side of the gallery filled with Aquino?s supporters, who formed a sea of bright yellow, also chanted ?Noynoy? and ?Aquino? at various intervals, but their shouts were sometimes drowned out by the Binay supporters.

At one point, the Binay side of the gallery chanted ?Noy-Bi,? but the Aquino side did not join it. Aquino?s running mate, Sen. Manuel ?Mar? Roxas II, was not present at the proclamation.

The cheering got so loud that Enrile had to remind the gallery to maintain order and to sit down.

Aside from their supporters in the gallery, Aquino and Binay did not lack for backers on the floor. Lawmakers from various political parties lined up on the aisle where they would walk, waiting to offer their congratulations.

Unanimous approval

It was Senate Majority Leader Juan Miguel Zubiri who moved for the proclamation of Aquino and Binay after sponsoring the committee report of the joint committee, triggering a roar of approval and applause from the gallery.

Nobody opposed the motion of Zubiri which was also manifested by his counterpart, House Majority Leader Arthur Defensor, prompting Enrile and his co-chair, Nograles, to separately bang the gavel to approve it.

With no objection from any member of Congress, Enrile and Nograles saw no need for putting it to a voice vote.

The hours leading up to the proclamation was spent listening to speeches of lawmakers, who, as they hailed the winners, also aired their divergent views about the country?s first automated elections. They cracked jokes and took time to push their pet advocacies.

They were also one in saying that the flaws in the system were not enough to strip away the credibility of Aquino and Binay?s victories.

Defects of automation

Defensor was the automated polls? vocal champion, saying that the next elections should be automated again, even as he recognized that the system was not perfect.

He said the canvassing process showed how significant and crucial automated elections were and how it improved the political system and also strengthened the people?s faith in the country?s capability to hold fair and accurate elections.

It also showed the defects and shortcomings of the system, which gives the country the chance to identify the areas where it could be improved, he said.

Defensor also took time to push for amendments to the Constitution, saying that the provisions related to elections should be examined. He said he did not want to suffer from long ballots filled with so many candidates? names even if only one person was to be chosen.

Sen. Aquilino Pimentel Jr., who prepared an 18-page speech but later cut it short, attacked the alleged flaws in the automated election system, including the lack of a voter verification system, the wrong date and time stamp in the election returns and the supposedly defective sensors in the precinct count optical scan (PCOS) machines.

But Pimentel also said these shortcomings were not enough to nullify the entire elections.

Hail to the chief

Pimentel also cracked jokes during his speech titled ?Hail to the Chief and Blessed be his Vice.? He said the vice being referred to was Binay, and not Aquino?s smoking habit.

He also said he had wanted the proclamation done in broad daylight because if it was done at night, the face of the victors, especially that of the dusky Binay, may not be seen.

Pimentel was also referring to the proclamation of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo at the break of dawn.

Pimentel said he was also told that PCOS actually stood for ?President Cory?s only son.?

He also aired his expectations of the country?s next president. He hoped Aquino would speed up national development and find an end to the Moro unrest, hopefully through the adoption of federalism.

Human rights should also be a top priority of the Aquino administration, he added.

?It?s a tough job, but the perception is that our people have just elected a tough leader, one who has a mind of his own and, therefore, quite capable in his own right to tackle the challenges of the times,? he said.

Remarkable win

Pimentel also congratulated Binay on his ?very remarkable win over well-heeled and well-known rivals for the vice presidency.?

He noted that Roxas had predicted that the contest would only determine who between Binay and Sen. Loren Legarda would be in second place.

Credible

He also praised Binay for his successes, especially since he came from humble beginnings.

House Deputy Majority Leader Neptali Gonzales said the canvass was ?credible, trustworthy and, in the final analysis, acceptable to the Filipino electorate and reflective of its collective will.?

The joint congressional committee spent eight working days canvassing 238 certificates of canvass (CoCs). Forty CoCs from abroad were not canvassed because they contained zero votes as certified by the Department of Foreign Affairs.

Many of the committee?s hours were spent inquiring into specific processes in the country?s first automated elections, as well as delving into alleged irregularities in the polls.