Proclamation for winning Senate bets, party-list groups possible by Sunday

By Charmaine A. Tadalan, Reporter

BOTH the 12 leading candidates in the senatorial race and the leading party-list groups may be proclaimed by Sunday, the Commission on Elections (Comelec) said Friday.

But Comelec Spokesperson James B. Jimenez also said in his press briefing Friday afternoon, “No formal invitation has been issued yet. There are still some matters…to be settled.”

“Again, sobrang tentative pa ang Sunday but as a heads up, sobrang reasonable na window.” (Again, Sunday is still a very tentative date, but it is a reasonable time window.)

He added: “One of the directions that we’re going in is one proclamation for both Senate and party-list winners….So hindi tayo pwedeng magmadali kasi kailangan i-compute muna natin yung party-list.” (So, we can’t rush this because we still have to compute the party-list)

With 145 out of 167 certificates of canvass already counted, the Comelec, convening as the National Board of Canvassers (NBoC), is seen to finish its count soon.

“We have canvassed 145 out of 167, so malapit na matapos (so it’s almost done),” Mr. Jimenez said.

Meanwhile, Tindig Pilipinas on Friday marched to the Philippine International Convention Center (PICC), where the NBoC is canvassing the votes, to urge the Comelec to address alleged irregularities in the midterm polls.

The group cited the 7-hour delay on Monday night in the transmission of election results to the transparency server, corrupted SD (Secure Digital) memory cards, and malfunctioning vote-counting machines, among others.