Congress starts joint session to canvass votes for president, VP

The Senate and House of Representatives convened on Tuesday afternoon as the National Board of Canvassers to tally votes cast for president and vice president. Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile and House Speaker Prospero Nograles jointly presided the session at the Batasan Pambansa complex in Quezon City. The session started at 2:52 p.m., nearly an hour behind schedule. Aside from Enrile, present on the part of the Senate were Majority Leader Juan Miguel Zubiri, ProTempore Jose "Jinggoy" Estrada, Senators Francis Escudero, Edgardo Angara, Alan Peter Cayetano, Francis Pangilinan, Rodolfo Biazon, Lito Lapid and Jamby Madrigal.

In his opening speech, Enrile stated the constitutional duty of Congress to act as the national canvassing body and reported the initialization of the consolidation and canvassing system equipment or server where the certificates of canvass (COCs) were transmitted electronically. He noted that during the initialization, he saw that the number of registered voters was recorded at 256,733, 195. This was corrected by the Commission on Elections and Smartmatic personnel but without the presence of representatives of political parties and/or candidates present. "I fully intend to ask Comelec to explain why this was allowed to happen despite the explicit conditions given to them," he said. Enrile, however, said that after a thorough examination and analysis of the technical procedure undertaken, "it was determined that no malicious code was executed that would compromise the integrity of the CCS." Enrile also reported that as 12 noon Tuesday (May 25), the Senate has yet to receive 54 more COCs as only 222 of the 278 COCs have been delivered. As of posting time, the two houses of Congress were discussing the rules to be used in the canvassing of the results of the country’s first nationwide automated polls, specifically whether to use the printed or electronic certificates of canvass (COCs) in tallying votes. On Monday, the two chambers formed their respective nine-member panels tasked to canvass votes. Under the 1987 Constitution, a joint session of Congress acting as the NBC is the only mandated body to proclaim the winning candidates for president and vice president. The newly proclaimed president and vice president will then assume their respective offices at noon of June 30, along with other elected officials. The Philippines' president and vice president are elected every six years. Enrile earlier said that Congress will proclaim the country’s next president and vice-president before June 15. (See: Enrile: New president, VP proclaimed before June 15) — Amita Legaspi and Andreo Calonzo/RSJ, GMANews.TV