MANILA – The Commission on Elections (Comelec) is eyeing the full proclamation by Saturday of the 12 winning senators in the just-concluded midterm elections.
According to Comelec chairperson George Erwin Garcia, the winning senatorial candidates must wait a little more as they want to finish the canvassing first before making proclamations.
“Sabi nga ng NBOC [National Board of Canvassers], ang atin pong decision ay lahat na ang proclamation. In less than one week makakapag-proklama na, eh ‘di okay lang siguro na makikihintay na lang,” said Garcia.
He added: “At saka ‘yan ay mangyayari naman kung ang lamang ng bawat isa ay malalapit o malalayo. Depende po yan kung ang natitirang uncanvassed results will materially affect the results of the elections.”
Sagip party-list’s Cong. Rodante Marcoleta, currently at sixth place in the senatorial race, filed a motion with the Comelec, requesting the poll body to proclaim the top six senatorial candidates based on the partial and unofficial count.
Garcia said the NBOC and other board of canvassers are authorized to “lower the threshold” and proclaim winning candidates if the remaining certificates of canvass (COCs) will no longer affect the results of the elections.
But the NBOC decided to complete the tallying of votes of the 175 COCs before holding the proclamation for the May polls.
“Ang sa atin, hanggat maaari walang lowering of the threshold. Hanggat maaari 100% canvass of all 175 COCs,” Garcia said. “Manifestation ang na-file and therefore, we will proceed accordingly.”/PN
