CONGRESS, sitting as the National Board of Canvassers, finished its official tally of all votes Friday night and confirmed the victory for Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte as president and Camarines Sur Rep. Leni Robredo as vice president.
At 7:15 p.m., the 14-member congressional canvassing panel headed by Senator Aquilino Pimentel III and House Majority Leader Neptali Gonzales II finished canvassing all 166 Certificates of Canvass on its third day.
House deputy minority leader and 1-BAP party-list Rep. Silvestre Bello III, the House contingent head for the minority bloc of the NBC, said this was the “fastest in the history of canvassing in Congress.”
The results of the congressional canvassing confirmed the earlier tally of votes made the by the Commission on Elections, where Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte emerged as the next president with an overwhelming 16,601,997 votes and Camarines Sur Rep. Leni Robredo as the vice president with a total of 14,418,817 votes.
Duterte was followed by Liberal Party standard-bearer Manuel Roxas II with a total of 9,978,175 votes; then Senator Grace Poe, 9,100,991 votes; Vice President Jejomar Binay, 5,416,140; Senator Miriam Defensor Santiago, 1,455,532; and deceased OFW Family party-list Rep. Roy Señeres, with 25,779 votes.
In the vice presidential race, Senator Ferdinand Marcos Jr. obtained 14,155,344 votes; followed by Senator Alan Peter Cayetano, with 5,903,379 votes; Senator Francis Escudero, with 4,931,962 votes; Senator Antonio Trillanes IV, 868,501; and Senator Gregorio Honasan, 788,881 votes.
Before the canvassing was finished, the Marcos camp once again raised the issue of undervotes in the hotly contested vice presidential race—or the difference between the number of votes cast for president, and those cast for vice president.
George Garcia, head of the Marcos legal team, said the fact that the Comelec would look into it only confirmed the fact that it was a serious matter.
But Robredo lawyer Romulo Macalintal said undervoting does not mean there was electoral fraud, and said the situation was common in all positions.
Gonzales said the joint session would reconvene on Monday to sponsor the committee report on the canvassing, and approve it afterward. Then it would pass a resolution proclaiming the winners for president and the vice president, he said.
Gonzales said the proclamation of Duterte and Robredo will likely take place on Monday.
Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre said Duterte would most likely attend the proclamation, despite earlier reports that he might not.
Earlier, Duterte’s spokesman Salvador Panelo said the mayor didn’t need to be physically present during the proclamation ceremony.
After the final tally, Duterte’s campaign spokesman issued the following statement:
“Finally victory has been achieved. The official results of 2016 presidential race with Rody Duterte as winner may be anti-climactic, but we should not lose its historic significance. His victory is the triumph of the people, by the people and for the people. Let us celebrate this milestone of Philippine democracy by uniting and working for genuine change.”
