1 M votes still to be counted

MANILA, Philippines – Fifteen more certificates of canvass (COCs), covering one million votes, still have to be tallied before the 12 winners in the senatorial elections can be officially proclaimed.

Commission on Elections (Comelec) Commissioner Christian Lim said there are 15 remaining COCs waiting to be canvassed.

A majority of the 15 still uncanvassed COCs are from areas where special elections will be held due to a failure of elections on May 9.

Lim said the COCs include those 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.

Consuelo Diola, Comelec secretary, said the COCs yet to be canvassed could total to over a million votes.

“It could reach over a million votes and still affect the results of those in the last position for senatorial race,” Diola disclosed.

After suspending the canvassing for a day, the seven-member commission, sitting as the National Board of Canvassers (NBOC) is set to resume the official canvassing today.

The NBOC suspended proceedings to allow auditing and verification of votes for senators and party-list.

Diola said eight COCs had to be audited due to “seeming discrepancies” that were eventually resolved.

She said the sub-committee was able to show that there were really no discrepancies that some parties opted to withdraw their written manifestation.

But of the eight, Diola said, two COCs from Laguna and Southern Leyte have to be “quarantined” pending the resolution of issues.

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

The other six COCs are from Zamboanga del Sur, Ilocos Sur, Benguet, Iloilo, Misamis Oriental and Nueva Ecija.