Villar still leading Senate race; Binay tightens grip on 12th spot

MANILA, Philippines — With only two remaining certificates of canvass to be tallied, reelectionist Senator Cynthia Villar continued to lead the ‘Magic 12’ while fellow Senator Nancy Binay tightened her grip on the 12th spot.

This was after the Commission on Elections (Comelec) finished tallying 165 out of 167 certificates of canvas on Monday evening.

Binay has widened her lead over Senator JV Ejercito, who is at the 13th spot, by 203,666 votes. Meanwhile, Villar now has 25,215,678 votes, followed by:

2. POE, GRACE: 21,981,275
3. GO, BONG GO: 20,579,811
4. CAYETANO, PIA: 19,719,629
5. DELA ROSA, BATO: 18,922,017
6. ANGARA, SONNY: 18,110,367
7. LAPID, LITO: 16,937,775
8. MARCOS, IMEE: 15,811,231
9. TOLENTINO, FRANCIS: 15,446,517
10. PIMENTEL, KOKO: 14,617,686
11. BONG REVILLA: 14,608,102
12. BINAY, NANCY: 14,484,839
13. EJERCITO, ESTRADA JV: 14,281,173

The votes that were accounted for when the National Board of Canvassers (NBOC) resumed its session at 8:13 p.m. on Monday  was from Isabela, Japan, and Nigeria.

Oversees absentee voting (OAV) results from Saudi Arabia and Washington D.C. in the United States have yet to be canvassed.

Transmission of results from OAVs have been delayed due to corrupted SD cards. The Comelec said they had to ship replacement cards from their warehouse to the affected areas.

Meanwhile, the COC from Isabela was delayed because a vote counting machine and other election paraphernalia were burned by armed men in Jones town. (Editor: Eden Estopace)

READ: Comelec resumes canvassing, then suspends after no new COC transmission

READ: Corrupted SD cards also affected overseas voting – Comelec

READ: Glitch–free special polls reported in Isabela barangay