Comelec spox bares plans for senatorial, party-list groups proclamation

Commission on Elections (Comelec) acting spokesperson Rex Laudiangco on Monday bared plans for the proclamation of winning senatorial candidates and party-list groups on Wednesday and Thursday, respectively.

At the press briefing, Laudiangco announced that the winning senators will be proclaimed on Wednesday afternoon, May 18, while the party-list groups will be on Thursday afternoon, May 19.

He said the elected senators may only bring five companions, while the winning initial party-list groups will be limited to two guests.

The Comelec spokesperson earlier said that winning senators and party-list groups would be proclaimed separately to maintain public health standards amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

Laudiangco said the elected senators with their companions will pass through a security ingress and will have their vaccination cards confirmed beforehand.

“We are coordinating with them na masubmit na para mas mabilis 'yung ingress sa facility (to submit their vaccination cards immediately to expedite their ingress to the facility),” he said.

He then reminded the participants to cooperate with the poll body’s guidelines.

“Our ceremonies are formal, alam ko naman (I know) they will be cooperating with us, we have guides that will assist them. Ang sa amin lang po this would be a formal ceremony and we hope that we could maintain the formality of the occasion. I know magko-cooperate naman po sila,” he said.

Laudiangco advised party-list groups who celebrated early to wait for the official announcement of the Comelec, sitting as the National Board of Elections (NBOC) for the senatorial and party-list race.

“It’s their right to celebrate early but then again please wait for the official action of the commission and the official canvass of the NBOC. Kaunti na lang matatapos na. Siguro the celebrations can be put on hold and let’s make it official,” he said.

Asked who can sit as a party-list representative, Laudiangco said “Walang mauupo sa any winning party-list unless they have submmited their Certificate of Nomination and the Certificate of Nomination had been accepted.”

Laudiangco said the NBOC canvassed a total of 159 out of 173 certificates of canvass (COCs)  which is almost 91.91% as of Sunday, May 15.

He said the Hong Kong results transmission is now complete, this covers Hong Kong, Macau, and mainland China.

Laudiangco earlier said they would proceed with the special elections in Shanghai despite the COVID-19 surge that has left most of its 25 million residents locked down for several weeks.

The Comelec earlier suspended the OAV in Shanghai, the epicenter of China's worst COVID-19 outbreak to date.

The NBOC resumed canvassing of COCs past 3 p.m. on Monday.—AOL, GMA News