PPCRV: No instruction yet from Comelec to stop quick count

Three days after the elections and after more than 95 percent of poll results transmitted, the Parish Pastoral Council for Responsible Voting (PPCRV) has not yet received a go signal from the Commission on Elections to stop its quick count.

This as the citizens' arm of the Comelec said it would continue releasing partial and unofficial results of the 2016 national elections that it has been receiving through the Comelec transparency server housed at the PPCRV inside Pope Pius XII in Manila.

Asked if it had already received instructions from the Comelec to stop its quick count, PPCRV media director Anna de Villa Singson said Thursday: "Wala pang sinasabi [Comelec]. In fact we have been asking ourselves yesterday, 'Should we continue to show the data kasi pa usbong-usbong na lang?'" 

Singson stressed that the results of the PPCRV's quick count remains as a reliable source of information, especially since the public does not get to see details of the certificates of canvass that are being sent to the Comelec.

"As long as we get information from the Comelec [transparency] server, as we said receivers lang kami, we would continue to show what the Comelec server shows," she said.

Singson earlier said there is no reason for the poll watchdog to stop its count. She belied claims by vice presidential bet Sen. Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr., who is in second place behind Camarines Sur Rep. Leni Robredo in the vice presidential race, that there is an "alarming and suspicious trend" that caused the senator to fall behind.

Robredo had said she sees no reason for the partial and unofficial counting of votes by election watchdogs to be stopped. 

"Sa akin kasi walang dahilan para ihinto. Every elections alam natin na mayroong quick count. Yung quick count nga nagbibigay sa atin ng ideya sa resulta ng eleksyon, yung official yun yung confirmation nito," Robredo said in an interview on GMA News' 24 Oras. 

Robredo expressed suspicion over Marcos' demands. "Ang sa akin, bakit ipapahinto, may balak ba silang gawin?" she asked. 

As of 2:45 p.m. Thursday, the partial and unofficial tally has Robredo leading Marcos – the administration bet has 13,988,939 votes to the independent bet's 13,774,268. — RSJ, GMA News