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Congress convenes as NBOC to canvass votes for president, VP


To start the canvassing of votes for president and vice president in the recently-concluded Eleksyon 2022, the Congress convened on Tuesday morning as the National Board of Canvassers.

Senate President Vicente Sotto III and House Speaker Lord Allan Velasco led the opening  of the joint session.

Senate Majority Leader Juan Miguel Zubiri, Senate President Pro Tempore Ralph Recto, Senate Minority Leader Franklin Drilon, and Senators Nancy Binay, Imee Marcos, Grace Poe, and Pia Cayetano compose the Senate contingent.

Meanwhile, the House contingent is composed of Majority Leader Martin Romualdez, Cavite Rep. Crispin Remulla, Cavite Rep. Abraham Tolentino, Zamboanga City Rep. Manuel Jose Dalipe, Ilocos Sur Rep. Kristine Singson-Meehan, and AAMBIS-OWA Party-list Rep. Sharon Garin.

The rules for the canvassing of votes for presidential and vice presidential polls were also adopted.

The Lower Chamber of Congress earlier assured the public that it was all systems go for the canvassing of votes for president and vice president in the May 9 elections.

Zubiri has said Congress was looking to proclaim the new president and vice president on Wednesday.

According to Zubiri, Congress' leaders had agreed to finish the canvassing of votes for president and vice president in two days.

Based on the partial and unofficial tally, former senator Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr. led the Eleksyon 2022 presidential race with 31,104,175 votes followed by Vice President Leni Robredo with 14,822,051 votes.

Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte, the daughter of outgoing President Rodrigo Duterte, was the leading vice presidential bet with 31,561,948 votes, followed by Senator Francis Pangilinan with 9,232,883 votes.

Marcos’ legal team for the canvassing includes lawyers Vic Rodriguez, Maria Bernadette Sardillo, Nesauro Firme, Margarita Gutierrez, Felipe Egargo, Hubert Guevara, George Briones, and Terrence Mark Arthur Ferrer.

Smooth canvassing

According to Sotto, he sees no major problem in the conduct of vote canvassing. He said the earliest proclamation of the winning president and vice president would be Wednesday afternoon, while the latest would be Thursday morning.

"We do not expect any serious objection unless the COC will have incomplete records or does not match what was electronically transmitted, other than that we don't see any serious objection," he said in a press conference.

Sotto, meanwhile, said discrepancies in the canvassing would not necessarily stop the counting of votes.

"It will be set aside so that the canvassing will continue and then later on it will be taken up to find out how the discrepancy came," he said.

"Ideally dapat walang questions, dapat resolved lahat, walang basta noted lang... walang ganoon (Ideally, there should be no questions, all issues should be resolved). I will not allow it. Set aside and then resolve later," he added.

Drilon also said the canvassing for this year's presidential and vice presidential polls would go "smoothly."

"I don't see any at this point. I am confident that the canvassing will go smoothly because... this is electronically transmitted COC but of course the paper trails are there," he said.

Sotto said the lawyers of Marcos and Duterte were given a timetable on the canvassing of votes and the proclamation.

Rodriguez has already confirmed that the incoming president would attend his proclamation.

On the part of Duterte, her spokesperson, Liloan, Cebu Mayor Christina Frasco, said they already received information from the legal counsel of Lakas-CMD about the possible date of the proclamation.

Frasco said that Duterte had set a visit to the wake of a supporter from Antique who was depressed and bullied because of his political preferences and eventually committed suicide.

She added that Duterte had scheduled meetings in Antique and Iloilo.

"She will endeavor to attend the proclamation and exert her best efforts to make it on time to Manila," Frasco said in a press statement.

Imee Marcos

Both Drilon and Sotto also see no issue with Senator Marcos being a member of the joint committee for this canvassing.

The joint committee shall decide all questions and issues raised involving the COCs by a majority of vote of its members, each panel voting separately.

"What can a relative do? Hindi naman humahawak ng COC 'yun basta-basta o hindi naman taga-basa, kung di kasama doon sa committee, 'ika nga eh ino-observe 'yung bilangan, 'yung pagbilang. I don’t see any problem eh," Sotto said.

(What can a relative do? She does not handle nor read the COC except being part of the committee that observes the canvassing.)

"Sa akin naman, hindi ako nag-inhibit eh. (On my part, I did not inhibit) I am just doing my job, I am just doing my work cut out for me by the Constitution... to receive the ballot boxes and the COCs and to assign the joint session to canvass. Ministerial lang 'yun (That's just ministerial)," he added.

For Drilon, Marcos being part of the committee is also not a valid concern.

"It is not a valid concern, you can also raise the same concern on SP Sotto and on Senator Kiko. Second, the NBOC has no discretion to rule on issues arising from the validity of the COC," Drilon said. —AOL/VBL, GMA News

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