Comelec to proclaim more Senate winners

Comelec Chairman Sixto Brillantes. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO

MANILA, Philippines—The Commission on Elections (Comelec) en banc, sitting as the National Board of Canvassers (NBOC), is set to proclaim another set of winners in the senatorial race Saturday.

Comelec chairman Sixto Brillantes Jr. told reporters in an ambush interview that “we will proclaim again tonight.”

He however did not say whether all the final three candidates would be proclaimed or only one or two.

As of 3:30 p.m. Saturday, only one province in the country has yet to transmit their Certificates of Canvass (COCs)

“We are now just waiting for the last [COC],” Comelec chairman Sixto Brillantes Jr. told reporters in separate ambush interview.

“Basta pumasok na iyong last [COC] tuluy-tuloy na kami sa lahat,” he said.

The Lanao del Norte province in Region X is the remaining COCs in the country out of the 304 expected COCs which include the overseas absentee votes (OAVs).

A total of 196 of the COCs were from OAV while only 108 were from the provinces and cities. Only 24 of the OAV COCs have been canvassed as of Saturday afternoon.

Commissioner Lucenito Tagle in a separate interview said that the “OAVs are just a small [percentage].” Majority of the 52 million registered voters are from within the country.

Election Lawyer Romulo Macalintal previously said that the NBOC has not yet counted a substantial number of votes for it to proclaim the senatorial candidates.

The top six candidates: Grace Poe, Loren Legarda, Francis Escudero, Alan Cayetano, Nancy Binay and Juan Edgardo Angara were proclaimed Thursday night while the next three: Benigno Aquino IV, Aquilino Pimentel III, and Antonio Trillanes IV were proclaimed Friday night.

As of 3 p.m. Saturday afternoon, 39,167,946 of the total votes have been canvassed by the NBOC.