Discrepancies emerge in Comelec count that generally matches PPCRV tally

MANILA —  The canvassed vote tallies by the Commission on Elections (Comelec) for the senatorial race, as of Wednesday, closely matched the results of the quick count of the Parish Pastoral Council for Responsible Voting (PPCRV).

Taking the lead was junior politician “Tesda Man” Joel Villanueva, who received 5,413,225 votes, followed closely by Senate President Franklin Drilon with 5,201,938 votes.

The figures were based on 41 out of the 87 certificates of canvass (COCs) received and processed by the Comelec as the National Board of Canvassers as of 3:30 p.m. Wednesday.  The official tallies came from local and foreign areas at the Philippine International Convention Center (PICC) in Pasay City.

Copies of the 46 remaining COCs canvassed on Wednesday have yet to be made available to the media.

Based on the 41 canvassed COCs, incumbent Sen. Vicente Sotto ranked third with 5,171,135 votes, followed closely by come-backing Richard Gordon, who garnered 5,123,993 votes and Panfilo “Ping” Lacson, with 5,099,790 votes.

The others in the Magic 12 were Risa Hontiveros on 6th place with 4,710,882 votes; Francis “Kiko” Pangilinan, 4,582,049 votes; Juan Miguel Zubiri, 4,427348 votes; Sarangani Rep. Manny Pacquiao, 4,401,211 votes; Sherwin Gatchalian, 4,363,197 votes; Ralph Recto, 4,248,546; and first-timer Leila de Lima with 4,178,009 votes.

The tabulation of certificates of canvass by the Comelec has been evidently slower than that being conducted by the PPCRV as the COCs have to be checked and verified by the lawyers and representatives of the senatorial candidates, who also raise questions from time to time.

For instance, Zubiri’s lawyer, George Garcia made a manifestation to the NBOC on Wednesday, pointing out discrepancies of tallies between the transparency server and the Comelec’s central server.

The COCs in question were from Davao del Norte, Misamis Oriental and Laguna.

The central server showed that Zubiri won 184,262 votes but the transparency server showed that he received 186,725 votes. In Misamis Oriental, the transparency server showed that the senatorial bet got 385,410 votes while in the central server there were only 222,569 votes.

In Laguna, the central server showed that Zubiri received 488,821 votes but the transparency showed that he won 491,980 votes.

The camp of senatorial candidate Francis Tolentino also reported a discrepancy to the NBOC, noting that the transparency server showed that he won 205,323 votes in Zamboanga del Sur while the main server counted only 137,019 votes.

Recto’s lawyers also manifested to the NBOC that the central server recorded 113,465 votes in Davao del Norte but the transparency server said he won 114,367 votes. There was also a discrepancy of 624 votes in Ilocos Sur.  SFM