Lawmakers question separate COC for president, VP

(Updated 7:42 p.m.) Lawmakers sitting as the National Board of Canvassers on Wednesday questioned the Commission on Elections on the supposed two separate sets of certificates of canvass (COCs) for president and vice president. Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile presented during the hearing of the joint congressional canvassing committee the demonstration forms for COC sent to him by the Comelec sometime in March. Under the procedures on manual elections, there is only one certificate of canvass for president and vice president. "It was on the basis of these two demonstration forms submitted to this representation that gives the impression that there will be two COCs," Enrile said. Comelec executive director Jose Teolentino said there is only one document for the certificates of canvass but it has two sets. "When we generate certificates of canvass for president and vice president, we generate it as one document, but the appearance is two different documents because one is for the president and the other is for the vice president," he told the body.
One document with two parts Comelec Commissioner Gregorio Larrazabal explained that the local board of canvassers prints the COC only once but they have the option to print out COC just for president and vice president. "When you click print, (the election machine) prints COC at one time. They have, if they decide, option to print just for president or vice president," he said. In short, “it is one document with two parts, for president and vice president," he said. Senate Minority Leader Aquilino Pimentel Jr resented the statements of the poll officials, saying it seemed part of an effort to mislead the people. Comelec chairman Jose Melo said the NBOC could canvass the votes for president and vice president separately, noting that the COC from the provinces and urbanized cities are composed of several pages where the number of votes for the candidates were stated. “Can they be taken separately? I suppose so," Melo said in reply to the questions of the lawmakers if the pages in the COC can be treated independent of each other. Larrazabal said even if the pages in the certificate of canvass are thumbmarked and signed by the local Board of Canvassers, “it comprises part and parcel" of one document. With this answer, Nograles said it means that it is now up to the joint committee to canvass the votes separately. Simultaneous proclamation Earlier in the session, Parañaque Rep. Roilo Golez sought an assurance from Nograles that the president and the vice-president will be proclaimed simultaneously. Nograles, in response, said it is unlikely that one will be proclaimed before the other. "We will be able to proclaim them both, unless under very extreme circumstances, we will not proclaim one before the other," Nograles responded. Both Enrile and Nograles also reiterated their earlier assurance that proclamations will be done before June 15. "We will not sacrifice accuracy over speed, but we should bbe able to do this on or before June 15," Nograles said. - with Mark D. Merueñas/KBK, GMANews.TV