ANTIQUE Rep. Loren Legarda overtook broadcaster Raffy Tulfo for the number two ranking in yesterday’s partial and official tally of the May 9 senatorial race being done by the National Board of Canvassers (NBOC) at the Philippine International Convention Center (PICC) Forum Tent in Pasay City.
Actor Robin Padilla kept his stronghold for the number one slot, getting a total of 13,231,228 votes, while Legarda got 12,290,805 and Tulfo had 12,223,867 votes based on the partial and official National Tally Sheet Report No. 2 of the NBOC.
Ranked 4th to 6th are Sen. Sherwin Gatchalian (10,427,847), Sorsogon Gov. Francis Escudero (10,403,405), and Taguig Rep. Alan Peter Cayetano (9,852,390).
Former public works chief Mark Villar (9,799,932), Senate majority leader Juan Miguel Zubiri (9,610,489), and Sen. Joel Villanueva (9,488,272) occupy the 7th to 9th spots.
Rounding out the Top 12 are former senator JV Ejercito (8,005,848), Sen. Risa Hontiveros (7,826,216); and former senator Jinggoy Estrada (7,678,819).
Just outside the winners’ circle are former vice president Jejomar Binay (6,882,860) at 13th, former defense secretary Gilbert Teodoro (6,509,993) at 14th, and former Quezon City mayor Herbert Bautista (6,457,087) at 15th.
In the party-list race, the ACT-CIS party list is lording it over other organizations as it has already amassed 1,112,991 votes.
Far behind the topnotcher are the Ako Bicol (513,403), 1-Rider Party-list (453,712), 4Ps (427,779), Ang Probinsyano (421,253), Sagip (411,440), Cibac (394,750), Ako Bisaya (391,242), Probinsyano Ako (380,119), and Tingog (364,699).
Holding the 11th to 20th spots are Tutok to Win (344,746), LPGMA (327,651), Senior Citizens (301,660), AGAP (294,797), Duterte Youth (285,098), Abang Lingkod (281,822), Ako Ilocano (279,147), Agimat (256,910), Anakalusugan (255,976), and Uswag Ilonggo (253,746).
The votes tallied in the Report No. 2 accounts for the votes from 82 Certificates of Canvass (COCs) canvassed by the NBOC as of Wednesday night. The 82 COCs carry a total of 33,965,926 registered voters.
The total number of voters who actually voted was at 28,805,168 for a voter turnout of 84.81 percent.
As of 7 p.m. yesterday, the NBOC has already canvassed a total of 121 COCs out of 173 COCs.
The NBOC has yet to release National Tally Sheet Report No. 3 as of press time.
SENATE
The Senate has received a total of 11 COCs and ERs for the presidential and vice presidential race as of Thursday morning, its Public Relations and Information Bureau said.
As of 7:01 a.m. yesterday, the COC and ERs came from Austria (Vienna), Papua New Guinea (Port Morseby), Taguig City, Zambales, Navotas City, Jordan (Amman), Guimaras, Ifugao, Vitenam, Cambodia, and Malabon.
These represent 6.36 percent of the total COCs and ERS that the NBOC is expecting.
Rene Samonte, Senate sergeant-at-arms, said they expect the bulk of the COCs to reach
the Senate before May 22, a day before Congress resumes regular sessions and convene as the NBOC the following day.
“So, we will transport (to the House of Representatives) the bulk of the received Election Returns and COCs on Monday, May 23, at the latest. We have coordinated with the AFP, PNP, and MMDA regarding this,” Samonte said.
“All other ERs and COCs that will be delivered to the Senate after that will be brought to the HOR in batches, as received,” he added.
The Senate is expected to receive a total of 173 ballots containing the COCs and ERs.
PROCLAMATION
Acting Elections spokesman John Rex Laudiangco said the Comelec will proclaim the top 12 winners of the senatorial race sans the completion of the canvassing of votes.
“Once we reach the point where we have covered most of the Certificates of Canvass, and those remaining votes will not affect the results anymore, the Comelec will not delay the proclamation,” said Laudiangco.
He said the proclamation may already come by early next week at most. “As we said, we might even finish earlier. The best case scenario is in a week’s time or early next week,” he added.
But while the proclamation of new senators may come soon, the poll official said such may not be the case for party-lists because the computation of the 63-seat party-list allocation would require the total number of votes cast for the party-list system.
“All the votes for party-lists will be totaled. In order to get that, we need to get all the votes for party-lists,” he said.
Under the party-list formula to be used, all groups that have reached the two percent threshold will be assured of one seat in the House of Representatives.
“Ultimately, the result will be that all 63 seats allocated for party-lists will be filled up proportionately and progressively via the application of the formula,” said Laudiangco.
Laudiangco said winning senatorial candidates and party-lists organizations will need to choose well who they will tag along during their forthcoming proclamation at the Philippine International Convention Center (PICC) Forum Tent in Pasay City.
He said the Comelec will limit the number of companions it will allow during the proclamation of winning senators and party-lists in the coming days.
“We will be limiting their companions just like what we did during the filing of Certificates of Candidacy (COC),” he said, adding that will be in accordance with continued restrictions amid the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic.
“We are still in a pandemic. We are still under Alert Level 1. We will comply with the minimum health protocols,” said Laudiangco.
During the filing of COCs last October 2021, aspirants for president, vice president, and senators were only allowed to bring three companions at most, while those filing for party-list organizations may be accompanied only by one person.
This was part of the safety measures adopted by the Comelec during the period to file COCs held at the Sofitel Harbor Garden Tent in Pasay City.
To note, the Comelec, sitting as the NBOC, has been conducting the canvassing of votes for senators and party-lists since last Tuesday. — With Raymond Africa
