Comelec eyes May 16 or 17 together with partial party-list winners
The Commission on Elections (Comelec) is set to proclaim the 12 winning senators and partial winning party-list groups on Tuesday or Wednesday.
Comelec Commissioner George Garcia said that if canvassing of the remaining certificates will be done within the day today or tomorrow, the poll regulator will then immediately prepare for the proclamation on the next day.
Poised to serve fresh six-year terms in the Senate are Robin Padilla, Loren Legarda, Raffy Tulfo, Sherwin Gatchalian, Chiz Escudero, Mark Villar, Alan Peter Cayetano, Miguel Zubiri, Joel Villanueva, JV Ejercito, Risa Hontiveros, and Jinggoy Estrada.
The Comelec reported that 149 out of 173 COCs have been canvassed as of Saturday.
The poll regulator further said the 24 remaining COCs include 19 manual overseas COCs, one manual COC from the Vulnerable Sector Office, one manual COCs from 63 barangays, one electronic COC from Lanao del Sur, one electronic overseas COC from Hong Kong, and one electronic COC from Jordan.
Garcia however said not all COCs may arrive over the weekend, as Lanao del Sur has yet to hold a special election targeted on May 24, after failure of elections was declared in 14 barangays.
Speaking about the proclamation, Garcia in a GMA News report also said: “We don’t want anyone to be left out. It’s better to just have one proclamation.”
“For example, let’s proclaim all winning senators then the party-lists. It may be possible that not all party-lists will be proclaimed if there will still be left.”
The Comelec earlier said nine party-list groups have secured seats in the House of Representatives.
Actor Robin Padilla topped the 2022 senatorial elections based on the partial and official canvassing.
Garcia meanwhile said that he will push for a law to allow overseas Filipinos to vote online, as well as give senior citizens and persons with disabilities early voting privilege in future elections.
The Comelec official added that there were a lot of lessons learned from the May 9 polls as well as concerns. He said the poll regulator “will work to address some of the issues that arose from the recently-concluded electoral process.”
Some of the concerns include vote-counting machines, which may no longer be used in future polls.
Garcia said most for the machines are already “old” and have been used multiple times. 67% of election returns, COCs already transmitted to Senate.
The Senate meanwhile is on standby Sunday for 56 more Election Returns (ERs) and COCs which are expected to arrive anytime, out of the 173 that the joint session of Congress will canvass starting May 24 to determine the next President and Vice President.
On the sixth day after the May 9 elections, the Senate Information and Public Relations Bureau reported that it received COCs from Romblon, Pampanga, Samar, Davao Occidental, Zamboanga Sibugay, Camarines Sur, Northern Samar, Cebu City, Zamboanga del Norte, Negros Oriental, Davao del Sur, Davao de Oro, Davao Oriental, Maguindanao, Misamis Occidental, Bulacan, Basilan, South Cotabato, Iloilo, Caloocan City, and Palawan.
Likewise, votes cast from Taiwan, Qatar, Bahrain, Singapore, London, Thailand, and Canada, and by Persons Deprived of Liberty are already with the Senate, for 67.63 percent of the total ERs and COCs.
On Saturday, 88 ERs and COCs came from Benguet, Eastern Samar, Baguio City, Quirino, Biliran, Capiz, Apayao, Antique, Cagayan de Oro City, Pangasinan, Zamboanga City, Agusan del Sur, Surigao del Norte, Tarlac, Aurora, Bataan, Cagayan, Rizal, Las Piñas City, Quezon City, San Juan City, Bukidnon, Pasay City, Marikina City;
Laguna, Sarangani, Batangas, Southern Leyte, Muntinlupa City, Lanao del Norte, Catanduanes, Iligan City, Nueva Ecija, Oriental Mindoro, Marinduque, Kalinga, Abra, Misamis Oriental, Albay, and Local Absentee Voting.
Also delivered were the Overseas Absentee Voting COCs from Indonesia, United Arab Emirates, Germany, Sweden, Angola, Switzerland, and South Korea. Vito Barcelo
