Marcos Jr.: Counting not yet over but my thanks can't wait

Presidential candidate former Senator Ferdinand Marcos Jr. on Monday night acknowledged that the counting of votes had yet to be completed but added that his gratitude could no longer wait.

Marcos gave the statement as he led in the partial and unofficial tallies of the Commission on Elections transparency server.

As of 11:47 p.m. on Monday, Marcos had 26,313,353 votes while his closest rival Vice President Leni Robredo had 12,554,852.

In the vice presidential race, Marcos' running mate Sara Duterte had 26,303,202 against Senator Francis Pangilinan's 7,873,849.

Facing reporters at the BBM Headquarters in Mandaluyong City late Monday evening, Marcos urged Filipinos to still be vigilant in guarding their votes.

"Ngunit kahit hindi pa tapos nga ang pagbibilang, hindi makapaghintay ang aking pasasalamat sa inyong lahat, ang aking pasasalamat sa lahat ng tumulong, sa lahat ng sumapi sa aming ipinaglaban," Marcos said.

"Any endeavor as large as this, does not involve one person. It involves very very many people, working in very very many different ways," he added.

Marcos said there were a lot of groups, volunteers, and political leaders who have helped in his candidacy.

He said these individuals and groups have believed in their message of unity, the centerpiece of the campaign of the BBM-Sara UniTeam.

"I want to thank you for all that you have done for us, there are thousands of you out there, volunteers, parallel groups, political leaders that have, that cast their lot with us, because of their belief in our message of unity," Marcos said. —NB, GMA News