Comelec to proclaim 8 winning Senate bets Saturday
Contrary to a previous statement, the Commission on Elections (Comelec) said it will be proclaiming at least eight of the 12 winning senatorial candidates on Saturday afternoon. In a chance interview with reporters Friday, Comelec chairman Jose Melo said the poll body â sitting as the National Board of Canvassers (NBOC) â hopes to proclaim about eight to 10 of the senatorial winners on Saturday. On the other hand, Comelec Commissioner Gregorio Larrazabal said that they might probably be able to proclaim just about six to eight. This contradicts a statement made by the poll body earlier in the day, saying that it will only proclaim the winning candidates once all the certificates of canvass (COCs) are in. Larrazabal explained that the gap in the senatorial rankings is large enough for the poll body to conduct a partial proclamation. "They (the candidates) already know their standings in the official and unofficial counts, they already have an idea," he told reporters in a chance interview. But Larrazabal said that for them to proclaim the remaining winning senators, the Comelec should have received all COCs from the provincial board of canvassers nationwide. As of posting time, 18 out of the total number of 274 COCs have yet to arrive. The 18 cities and provinces which still need to transmit COCs are: Caloocan City (653,003 voters) Las Pinas City (331,220 voters) Apayao (62,350 voters) Mountain Province (101,983 voters) Batanes (10,124 voters) Isabela (867,119 voters) Nueva Ecija (1,289,804 voters) Palawan (535,279 voters) Masbate (437,898 voters) Iloilo (1,015,574 voters) Davao del Sur (247,616 voters) Basilan (230,459 voters) Lanao del Sur (515,486 voters) Maguindanao (651,692 voters) Sulu (315,104 voters) Misamis Oriental (493,209 voters) Surigao del Norte (288,653 voters) Cotabato City (94,342 voters) (The number indicated beside the provinces are the number of registered voters, not the number of voters who actually voted.) Fastest proclamation ever Larrazabal noted that the proclamation for this year's senatorial race is still probably the fastest in Philippine history. The proclamation is slated just five days after the conduct of the automated polls. In 2004, it took the Comelec two weeks before it could declare the complete slate of newly elected senators. In 2007, it took them two months to do the same. According to the latest official tally of the poll body, the candidates most likely to snag a Senate seat are: