Congress readies for official canvass

OFFICIAL COUNT | Comelec personnel readies the Philippine International Convention Center in Pasay City where the National Board of Canvassers will be canvassing votes cast in the 2022 national elections. (Photo by MARIANNE BERMUDEZ / Philippine Daily Inquirer)

MANILA, Philippines — The two houses of Congress convened on Monday for the initialization of the consolidation and canvassing system for the presidential and vice-presidential race.

Senate President Vicente Sotto III, who ran as a candidate for vice president; Speaker Lord Allan Jay Velasco; Senate Secretary Myra Marie Villarica; and House Secretary-General Mark Llandro Mendoza oversaw the process.

The initialization process ensures that all votes for president and vice president start at zero before electronically transmitted provincial and city certificates of canvass come in.

House Deputy Speaker Rufus Rodriguez previously expressed hope that Congress could complete the national canvassing and declare the winners in the presidential and vice-presidential race within 12 days and a weekend after Election Day.

Rodriguez noted that based on their calendar of sessions, the House and the Senate have only 12 days, including one weekend, to finish the vote tabulation and declare the winning presidential and vice-presidential candidates.

Congress is scheduled to reconvene on May 23 and adjourn its third and last regular session on June 3.

The two houses of Congress sitting as the national board of canvassers would be presided by the House speaker and the Senate president.

Sotto and Velasco are eyeing the proclamation of the new president and vice president by May 27 or 28.

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