Only 15 COCs more are needed to be canvassed—NBOC

(Photo: Comelec En Banc/Twitter)

MANILA—Only 15 more Certificates of Canvass (COCs) have to be canvassed before the Commission on Elections (Comelec), sitting as the National Board of Canvassers (NBOC), can proclaim the winning candidates in the senatorial and party-list positions.

Comelec Commissioner Christian Robert Lim said the remaining number of COCs from Lanao del Sur, Maguindanao, Sulu, Apayao, Negros Occidental, Marinduque, Zamboanga del Norte, Cebu, Sarangani, Agusan del Sur, Leyte, Eastern Samar, Northern Samar, Samar, and Antique are still to be canvassed.

He noted that majority of the COCs are from areas that will be holding their respective special elections over the weekend until Monday.

On the other hand, Atty. Consuelo Diola, Comelec Secretary, said the NBOC has yet to count the votes from Laguna and Southern Leyte after they were ordered “quarantined” pending the resolution of certain issues.

“The COCs from Laguna and Southern Leyte remain to be under quarantine and we are still awaiting their respective chairmen of the Provincial Board of Canvassers (PBOC) to arrive here,” said the NBOC subcommittee head.

Viola explained that the COC in Southern Leyte was quarantined after it failed to include votes from two towns while the COC from Laguna transmitted results that included votes from the Pre-Election Logical Accuracy Test (PreLAT).

At the same time, the poll body official said that they are waiting for the decision of political parties if they will be withdrawing their manifestations during the canvassing proceedings involving the COCs of six provinces.

The provinces are: Zamboanga del Sur, Ilocos Sur, Benguet, Iloilo, Misamis Oriental, and Nueva Ecija, where political parties took notice of the discrepancies found in the number of votes of some of the candidates.

On Sunday, the subcommittee conducted verification on the votes that have been received by each of the senatorial candidates and by the party-list groups.