The Commission on Elections (Comelec) said it will proclaim the 12 winners in the senatorial race by Wednesday, including those who have pending disqualification cases before the poll body, and announce the winners of the party-list race by Thursday.
Comelec Commissioner George Erwin Garcia said as long as there’s no final decision in the disqualification cases against senatorial candidates, they have no choice but to proclaim the winners.
On the other hand, Garcia said, pending disqualification cases against party-list groups was a different matter.
“When it comes to party-lists, we follow a different rule. Before, the rule was that if a party-list is facing disqualification, it cannot be proclaimed yet,” he said.
Now, he said, if it is the party-list nominee facing a disqualification complaint, he or she cannot be proclaimed until the case is settled, but the party-list itself can be proclaimed the winner.
“We will proclaim the 12 senators on Wednesday afternoon if the COC (certificate of canvass) from Hong Kong is transmitted tomorrow and we will proclaim the party-list groups with guaranteed seats on Thursday afternoon,” Garcia said.
The Comelec is just waiting for 14 more COCs, including 11 on the overseas vote from Bangladesh, Myanmar, Timor-Leste, Czech Republic, Denmark, Norway, Vatican, Iran, Kenya, Nigeria, and Mexico.
Partial and unofficial tallies on Monday showed the top 12 senatorial candidates are Robin Padilla, Loren Legarda, Raffy Tulfo, Sherwin Gatchalian, Francis Escudero, Mark Villar, Alan Peter Cayetano, Miguel Zubiri, Joel Villanueva, JV Ejercito, Risa Hontiveros, and Jinggoy Estrada.
The top winning party list groups are ACT-CIS, 1-Rider, Tingog, 4Ps, Ako Bicol and Sagip.
The Comelec also said it was considering holding a partial proclamation for the groups which have garnered the requisite minimum 2 percent of the total votes cast in the party-list election.
The Comelec will fill 63 seats based on the formula set by the Supreme Court to allocate 20 percent of the total seats in the House of Representatives to the party-list groups.
Comelec spokesperson John Rex Laudiangco said the senators will be proclaimed, not based on their ranking, but on the number of votes.
“There will be no standing or ranking in the meantime since we will wait for the completion of Lanao del Sur [special polls],” he said in a press briefing.
He said the Comelec already made a decision that the remaining votes that are yet to be submitted or transmitted will no longer affect the top 12.
“We can no longer wait for COCs from Lanao del Sur because the special elections in Tubaran will be on May 24, so the most they can transmit the COC, by the 24th maybe. And therefore, we might proclaim by 24, 25, 26, if we’d wait for it,” Garcia said.
He said canvassing will continue even after the proclamation of the 12 senators to make sure they account for all votes.
The National Board of Canvassers has yet to release the official tally.
On Monday, Benguet Rep. Eric Yap said the ACT-CIS party-list is urging broadcaster Erwin Tulfo to serve as its third representative in Congress.
Tulfo is the third nominee of the party-list, which won three seats in the elections, but is still deciding whether to serve in government or “continue his public service,” Yap said.
“We’re still encouraging Mr. Erwin Tulfo na to join us in the lower House and we told him he can help more people if he’s in Congress. He’s thinking about it deeply,” Yap said in a mix of Filipino and English.