IT is an axiom in Philippine politics that nobody ever loses an election; losers habitually whine they were cheated. Concessions are hard to come by and when they do they are done as a last resort, and grudgingly.

With one or two exceptions, all losing presidential candidates routinely file an election protest but none so far has succeeded. The appeals process moves ever so slowly that some cases are still to be decided as the term of the incumbent is winding down.

Poll manipulation is resorted to by both the ruling party and the opposition. It did not come as a total surprise that President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo talked to an election official about protecting her lead in the last but disputed 2004 election.

But what was a normal practice spun out of control when the President was “caught” in the act of conversing with the poll official when her private cell phone was bugged by an unknown person or persons. Whoever did the wiretap, which is illegal, is a matter of conjecture, although military intelligence remains a prime culprit.

For all of three weeks, the President maintained a deafening silence, not saying whether the voice in the belabored “Hello Garci” tape recording (now a national ring tone favorite) was hers or not. But this week, she fessed up, somberly telling the nation on TV and radio that it was herself talking all right and blurted out, in quick order, (a) she was sorry, (b) she did nothing wrong and (c) she would not resign.

The opposition, of course, will not buy this apology and will likely ratchet up their demand that she steps down. But the trouble with the antis is that they are themselves fragmented and no one seems to be a suitable presidential material from their ranks.

The other alternatives are more alarming than reassuring. Vice President Noli de Castro, the lawful successor if the President quits, is disparaged as the torchbearer of an oligarch family who will do the latter’s bidding to regain their economic primacy which they lost under martial law.

Another people power? Not unless the United States gives it a nudge or the Philippine military leaders desert the President the way they ditched President Joseph Estrada in 2001. Don’t count on any of these options from taking place.

A military junta? Generals can’t lead a nation in turmoil or even in peacetime. Some of them can get elected to the Senate or the House, but president? Forget it. They just don’t have the right stuff.

So, for better or for worse, we are stuck with a discordant administration for the next five years.