MANILA – Nine days after the May 9 national and local polls, the Commission on Elections (Comelec), sitting as the National Board of Canvassing (NBOC), has concluded the canvassing of 165 Certificates of Canvass (COCs) on Wednesday.
With this, the poll body will proclaim the 12 senatorial winners and 59 party-list representatives on Thursday afternoon (May 19).
“We have canvassed all the COCs for senatorial and partylist groups for the 2016 national polls. We will proclaim the 12 senators at 3 p.m., while the 59 party-list representatives will be proclaimed at 6 p.m.,” said Comelec Chairman Juan Andres Bautista after announcing the conclusion of the canvassing of the votes.
Based on the latest national canvass report of the National Board of Canvassers (NBoC), the top 12 is composed of former Senate President Franklin Drilon with 18,307,801, former Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA) chief Joel Villanueva, with 18,212,639; Senator Vicente Sotto, 16,985,226; former Senator Panfilo Lacson, 16,687,586; former Philippine Red Cross head Richard Gordon, 16,444,672; former Senator Migz Zubiri, 15,788,531; Rep. Manny Pacquiao, 15,735,079; Risa Hontiveros, 15,673,393; former Senator Kiko Pangilinan, 15,665,050; Rep. Win Gatchalian, 14,726,503; Senator Ralph Recto, 14,030, 498 and former Justice Secretary Leila de Lima, 13,894,048.
Bautista added, “We are looking to proclaim all the 12 winning senators as well as the 59 winning party-list reps. that is the plan.”
The NBOC started the canvassing of the votes last May 10.
On the other hand, Drilon and House Speaker Sonny Belmonte visited the NBOC Wednesday afternoon.
Bautista noted that they just shared records on how the process of the canvassing of votes.
“We just exchanged notes on how to go about the canvassing of votes,” he said.