Congress Canvass Proceeds Quickly; No Objections From Leni Camp

The tabulation of all certificates of canvass (COC) for president and vice president proceeded quickly on Tuesday, May 24, as Congress convened as the National Board of Canvassers (NBOC) at the Batasang Pambansa in Quezon City.

The Senate and the House of Representatives convened as the NBOC tasked to tabulate the votes and proclaim the winning president and vice president in the May 9 elections.

Lawmakers were set to canvass 179 COCs, 140 of which are automated while the remaining 39 are manual.

“We expect all the COCs to be canvassed today because this is non-stop,” said reelected Cavite Rep. Jesus Crispin “Boying” Remulla.

“The system allows us to do our job more efficiently and with less drama. It’s more of a mechanical piece of work because these are computer-generated. We will be able to finish probably Wednesday (May 25) or Thursday (May 26) at the most. But definitely not Friday (May 27),” he added.

“This is a case where the mandate is overwhelming. There’s no question about who won the elections. This time the elections came out very smoothly,” said Remulla, referring to the overwhelming lead achieved by presumptive president Ferdinand Marcos Jr. and presumptive vice president Sara Duterte-Carpio.

House Speaker Lord Allan Velasco said the canvassing would proceed despite a pending disqualification case against Marcos before the Supreme Court, even if this was already thrown out by the Commission on Elections.

Velasco designated 11 House lawmakers as regular and alternate members of the Joint Committee, including House contingent chairman Majority Leader Martin Romualdez and regular members Reps. Remulla, Abraham Tolentino, Kristine Singson-Meehan, Sharon Garin, Manuel Jose Dalipe and Juliet Marie de Leon, while alternate members are Reps. Juan Pablo Bondoc, John Ty Pimentel, Alfredo Garbin Jr. and Stella Luz Quimbo.

No delays

Senate President Vicente Sotto III said objections and observations on the COCs on the votes cast for president and vice president being counted in Congress would not delay the canvassing and proclamation of winners today, May 25.

Sotto said he does not expect any serious objections in the course of the proceedings and if there are discrepancies between the paper COC and the electronic one, they will be set aside and taken up later.

“No it won’t. They will be set aside, the canvassing will continue,” Sotto told reporters when asked whether objections will stop the proclamation of winners.

No objections from Leni camp

Meanwhile, the camp of Vice President Leni Robredo posed no objection during Tuesday’s canvassing of Congress.

Lawyer Romulo Macalintal made his categorical manifestation before the joint session of Congress – the Senate and the House of Representatives – sitting as the NBOC.

“We would like to make of record our continuing manifestation that we ‘interpose no objection’ to the inclusion in the canvass of all COCs for president. With that continuing manifestation, may we be allowed to respectfully ‘waive’ our appearance before joint committee, to further expedite this proceedings,” Macalintal said.

The veteran election lawyer also mentioned that the outgoing Vice President already made her public statement to her supporters “that we need to accept the decision of the majority.”

Marcos’ spokesman and incoming executive secretary Vic Rodriguez thanked Macalintal and Robredo for recognizing the integrity of the elections and the electoral process.

Malacañang welcomed the decision of Robredo’s camp not to raise any objections on the certificates of canvass, calling the move “a positive development.”

“As we earlier articulated, let us respect the outcome of the election and give chance to the winning candidates to fulfill their campaign platform,” acting presidential spokesman Martin Andanar said.

Accept the results

The camp of Marcos Jr. called on critics to now move forward and accept the results of the May 9 elections, as they cited the 99.93 per-cent overall accuracy rate showed by the random manual audit (RMA) of votes.

“I appeal to those who keep on pur-suing this divisiveness, the people have spoken. The Filipino people have spoken and an overwhelming majority has voted president-elect Bongbong Marcos and vice president-elect Inday Sara Duterte into office as president and vice president. Learn to respect the will of the Filipino people,” Rodriguez said.

Electoral protests

Commission on Elections (Comelec) acting spokesman Rex Laudiangco reported that they have received 30 electoral protests in the May 9 national and local elections.

“The Electoral Contest and Adjudica-tion Department had informed me that, as of May 23, they have received 30 election protest cases,” Laudiangco said, noting that all 30 cases have been docketed and are being reviewed.

Laudiangco said all the electoral pro-tests involved local and elective posts, as the Comelec’s jurisdiction covers only the city, provincial and regional positions.

Despite this, Comelec Commissioner George Garcia reiterated the success of the recently concluded general elections as he emphasized that they have recorded the fastest canvassing and transmission of votes.

Security tightened

Police have tightened security around the Batasan Pambansa Complex where the canvassing of votes for president and vice president started on Tuesday. At least 3,086 police officers are securing the premises of the complex and the roads leading to it.

Quezon City Police District (QPCD) spokesperson Maj. Wennie Ann Cale said the IBP Road was closed to traffic as part of security measures, and that motorists may take Litex Road as an alternate route.

The Philippine National Police (PNP) has advised groups planning to stage protests during the congressional canvassing of votes to secure permits from local government as well as to police their own ranks to prevent violence.

In response, Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (Bayan) secretary-general Renato Reyes said the police couldn’t simply arrest protesters at the canvassing area for not having permits because “Batas Pambansa (BP) 880 does not allow for the arrests of peaceful protesters.” – With Robertzon Ramirez, Emmanuel Tupas, Rhodina Villanueva, Edu Punay, Paolo Romero, Helen Flores