Winners of presidential, VP races may be known tonight

House of Representatives and Senate tribunal staff prepare the tally board during the presidential and vice presidential canvassing of votes at the session hall of House of Representatives on May 25. AFP

Congress sitting as the National Board of Canvassers (NBOC) is willing to stay up until midnight to finish the official count and determine the winners of the presidential and vice presidential races, according to Sen. Aquilino “Koko” Pimentel III.

In an interview before the start of Friday’s canvassing, Pimentel, Senate chair of the NBOC, said he required provincial board of canvassers with questionable certificates of canvass (COCs) to be present today so that the NBOC could thresh out discrepancies.

He said in case only a few COCs were left to be canvassed by 10 p.m., the NBOC would be willing to extend to 12 midnight to finish the official count.

The NBOC would then dedicate the weekend to informing the winners for the proclamation on Monday, Pimentel said.

“I have told my staff to send word to members of the Senate panel that though we expect to stay until 10 p.m., if necessary we should be willing to stay up to 12 midnight if, for example, a few more COCs are left,” Pimentel said.

“If a substantial number is left, we can defer this to Monday,” he added.

Pimentel said the NBOC would be quick in canvassing the votes “but not too much in a hurry” to listen to the objections and observations being raised by the candidates’ camps.

“If we can finish tonight, then we have a clear winner for our count. Then we have the weekend to convince the indicated winner to come and attend his or her proclamation,” Pimentel said.

Asked about the question of undervotes being constantly pointed out by the lawyers of Sen. Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr., Pimentel said it was not an “issue” in the canvassing for the official count.

Pimentel said Marcos’ observation was meant to note a possible improvement in the automated election system in the future to calculate the statistics in the undervotes, overvotes and invalid votes.

“To guide all of us, the undervotes are not being used to object to the inclusion of the canvass. Hence from the point of view of the person manifesting the undervote, it’s a nonissue in the count and proclamation,” Pimentel said.

“Maybe they just want to put it on record for possible study or improvement in the system so that in the future, if we should get an automated election system, it should be able to capture undervotes, overvotes and also invalid votes,” he added.

Marcos’ lawyers George Garcia and Didagen Dilangalen  noted during the canvassing the “unusually high” number of undervotes, claiming that according to their quick count, there were 3.3 million undervotes in the vice presidential race alone.

Marcos had said that millions of undervotes in a “hotly contested” vice presidential race was a cause for concern. According to the unofficial count, Camarines Sur Rep. Leni Robedo of Liberal Party led Marcos by a mere 200,000 votes.

Robredo’s lawyer, Romulo Macalintal, said there was nothing unusual in undervotes when voters opt to leave blank their choices for vice president even though they voted for a president.

Another counsel for Robredo, Senator-elect Leila de Lima, called the undervote tag from Marcos’ camp “malicious.”

READ: De Lima hits Marcos camp for repeatedly pointing out undervotes 

As of Thursday night, Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte maintained his overwhelming lead as president with 15,140,495 votes.

Boosted by his votes from the “Solid North” and Ilocos provinces, Marcos led the second day of canvassing by  83,840 votes. Marcos garnered 13,214,810 against Robredo’s 13,131,330 as of 9:55 p.m. Thursday, when 113 of 165 COCs were canvassed.

READ: Marcos sustains lead over Robredo on 2nd day of canvassing | Marcos overtakes Robredo as ‘Solid North’ votes canvassed