Proclamation of winning senators based on 'projections,' poll chief says

Amid criticisms that the proclamation of the winners of the senatorial race was rushed and premature, the Commission on Elections (Comelec) chairman on Monday said he is convinced that their proclamation is valid and is based on correct "projections." 

 

Poll chief Sixto Brillantes Jr. said they proclaimed the top six senators based on "projections" instead of exact number of votes.  

His statement was a reaction to an opinion column by former Chief Justice Artemio V. Panganiban, who said the proclamation is premature and illegal since the certificates of canvass (COC), not the grouped canvass report, are the legal basis for senatorial proclamation.     

"(Panganiban) should know that we rely not on the exact number of votes but on the projected number of votes (that) we anticipate," Brillantes said at a press briefing Monday.  

"I read his column. Okay lang naman, because he does not really understand what's happening," he added.   

Panganiban wrote in the opinion column: "In my long years as a lawyer, this is my first time to hear of these electoral instruments. In any event, law and settled jurisprudence require official COCs, not any other documents, as bases of senatorial proclamations"

 

Grouped canvass reports refer to a consolidated tally of votes per position from the provincial and city canvassers that have not yet transmitted their COCs to the Comelec.

 

The COC, on the other hand, contains the total votes from provinces, highly-urbanized cities and overseas absentee voting centers. It also reflects the grouped canvass reports.

 

Comelec Resolution No. 9706 validated the use grouped canvass reports as a "basis to determine the votes obtained by all the candidates for senator." 

 

Brillantes said the grouped reports helped them come up with the "projections" on whether or not the top six would be replaced. 

 

"These are official documents. We used it for the purposes of projecting kung aabutin pa 'yung anim o hindi," Brillantes added. 

 

He is referring to Grace Poe, Loren Legarda, Chiz Escudero, Alan Peter Cayetano, Nancy Binay and Sonny Angara who were proclaimed winners on Thursday with only 72 of 304 tallied COCs covering over 13 million votes.  

Meanwhile, the proclamation of Bam Aquino, Aquilino Pimentel III and Antonio Trillanes IV  as winners in the Senate race were based on 113 COCs or over 34 million votes. 

 

The proclamation of Cynthia Villar, JV Ejercito and Gregorio Honasan as winners, on the other hand, was based on 129 COCs covering about 40 million votes.   

There are over 52 million registered voters for the 2013 elections.  

Technicalities   

Panganiban said too that the poll body should have published in the newspapers their amendments to the rules of canvassing before these can be implemented.  

"If the Comelec wants to change its rules of proclamation even at the risk of offending jurisprudence, it is required by law to first publish its new rules and wait for the mandatory lapse of seven days after publication before it can use the new rules," he said.

 

Brillantes however said publishing minor, technical changes would delay their canvassing procedure. 

 

"If you want to become very technical about it, that’s correct. But these are not substantial changes. These are technicalities, procedural. Hindi na namin dapat i-publish 'yan," Brillantes said. 

 

New proclamation?  

Meanwhile, election laywer Romulo Macalintal called on the Comelec to repeat the proclamation of winners in the Senate race, this time with the number of votes and ranking. 

 

The Comelec last week proclaimed the winners without citing the number of votes and ranking. 

 

Brillantes said they've in fact proclaimed the top six  three times—the Comelec still read the names of the previously proclaimed senatorial-elects during the next two proclamations.   

"Our resolution is, when we proclaimed the nine with the additional three, we repeated the six (names of the top winners). Effectively tatlong beses silang (top six) na-proclaim," Brillantes said.  

"Gusto pa nilang ulit-ulitin nila lahat? Hindi naman kaya tayo mapagod sa pagpo-proclaim?" he added. —KG, GMA News