BBM keeps commanding lead in unofficial count

Presidential candidate Ferdinand Marcos Jr is mobbed by his supporters as he arrives at the campaign heaquarters in Manila on May 11, 2022. – The son of the late Philippines dictator Ferdinand Marcos on May 11 claimed victory in the presidential election, vowing to be a leader “for all Filipinos”, his spokesman said. (Photo by TED ALJIBE / Agence France-Presse)

MANILA, Philippines — Ferdinand Marcos Jr. kept his commanding lead of over 16 million votes ahead of his closest rival Vice President Leni Robredo in a partial and unofficial count two days after the balloting.

The tabulations by poll watchdog Parish Pastoral Council for Responsible Voting (PPCRV) showed that Marcos garnered 31,088,020 million votes, equivalent to 58.7 percent of all votes counted as of 5:02 p.m. on Wednesday.

Robredo, 57, the lone female presidential candidate, got 14,814,221 votes, or 28 percent of the total.

The votes came from 98.31 percent of 107,785 precincts nationwide which transmitted them to the transparency server of the Commission on Elections (Comelec), where PPCRV gets the poll results.

Conceding, going home

With petitions to disqualify him dismissed by the Comelec and no other major obstacles on his path, the 64-year-old former senator appears headed back to Malacañang, which had been his home for roughly 21 years before his late father was toppled and his family was driven into exile by the Edsa revolt in 1986.

Sen. Manny Pacquiao, who belongs to a faction of the Partido Demokratiko Pilipino-Lakas ng Bayan (PDP-Laban), which was recently declared illegitimate by the Comelec, was in third place with 3,629,491, or 6.9 percent of votes counted.

He was followed by Manila Mayor Francisco “Isko Moreno” Domagoso with 1,898,7323, or 3.6 percent of votes counted.

Behind them were the six other presidential aspirants who all failed to get at least 1 million votes as of Wednesday afternoon—Sen. Panfilo Lacson with 881,924 votes, Faisal Mangondato (258,315), former presidential spokesperson Ernie Abella (113,217), labor leader Leody de Guzman (92,050), former Defense Secretary Norberto Gonzales (89,074) and lawyer and physician Jose Montemayor Jr. (59,933).

Only Pacquiao and Domagoso had categorically conceded to Marcos. Robredo thanked her supporters and told them to “accept wholeheartedly” the final results but also said she would look into reported irregularities in the balloting.

Manual validation

Lacson said in a tweet on Tuesday that he was going home to Cavite province to serve his own family after 50 years in public office.PPCRV is set to start its manual validation of the votes on Thursday to ensure that the digitally transmitted results to the transparency server match the results from official election returns (ERs).

According to PPCRV, it has received 15,505 ERs at its command center at the University of Santo Tomas as of noontime Wednesday, or 14.39 percent of the total 107,785 ERs, from clustered precincts.

The ER contains voting precinct data, including the vote tally, the number of registered voters and the voter turnout.

Marcos’ running mate, Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte, also was way ahead of her rivals with 31,543,514 votes, or 61 percent of the votes for vice president.

That is 22 million more votes than her closest opponent and Robredo’s running mate, Sen. Kiko Pangilinan, who got 9,227,199 as of Wednesday afternoon.

Senate President Vicente Sotto III was in third spot and physician Willie Ong was fourth placer with 8,182,070 and 1,850,115 votes, respectively.

Pangilinan on Wednesday declared he would “continue the fight, win or lose,” saying that the counting wasn’t finished and there were numerous election issues that were still unresolved.

Sotto, Ong messages

Sotto said that he accepted the “will of the people,” while Ong congratulated Duterte and wished her well in her new position.

The other vice presidential candidates got less than 1 million votes—Lito Atienza (267,463), Manny Lopez (157,854), Walden Bello (99,695), Carlos Serapio (89,904) and Rizalito David (55,471).

In the Senate race, actor Robin Padilla, a former convict who was granted absolute pardon by President Duterte, continued to lead the pack.

Robin at 26M

PPCRV’s 5:02 p.m. tally showed Padilla topping the senatorial polls with 26,438,202 votes, or 6.19 percent of the total votes counted.

Padilla, who ran under the PDP-Laban party, was included by leading vice presidential candidate and first daughter Sara Duterte in the Senate slate of UniTeam although Marcos said that he was not part of the ticket’s 12 senatorial bets.

He was followed by Antique Rep. and former Sen. Loren Legarda who received 23,979,009 votes, and radio-television personality Raffy Tulfo with 23,156,279 votes.

Behind them were Sen. Sherwin Gatchalian (20,368,586), Sorsogon Gov. Chiz Escudero (20,039,811), former Public Works Secretary Mark Villar (19,198,431) and Taguig Rep. and former Sen. Alan Peter Cayetano (19,071,343).

Two other incumbent Senators Miguel Zubiri and Joel Villanueva, made it to the top 12 with 18,572,560 and 18,294,006 votes, respectively.

Last 3 spots

The last three spots were unchanged from Tuesday night’s rankings. At 10th place was another former senator, JV Ejercito (15,683,909 votes), followed by opposition Sen. Risa Hontiveros (15,266,186) and former Sen. Jinggoy Estrada (14,961,241).

Former Vice President Jejomar Binay (13,179,004 votes) and former Quezon City Mayor Herbert Bautista (12,935,751) still have a chance of joining the winning circle as they are at the 13th and 14th places, respectively.

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