Namfrel count: GO keeps Senate race an 8-2-2 affair

The standings of the leading senatorial candidates remained unchanged Monday morning at the latest partial and unofficial tally of the National Movement for Free Elections (Namfrel) with the Genuine Opposition (GO) keeping hold of eight slots. Barging into the six-million vote mark were opposition bets Loren Legarda and Francis Escudero, who got 6,396,348 and 6,276,708 votes respectively. Panfilo Lacson trailed by over 700,000 votes, gaining 5,551,623 votes as of 8:40 a.m. in Namfrel's 22nd tally bulletin. Smarting from yet another discrepancy woe last Sunday, Namfrel had covered 94,206 precincts or 41.92 percent of all precincts nationwide. Manuel Villar Jr came in fourth place with 5,240,839 votes, followed by Francis Pangilinan (Ind.) with 5,088,512 votes and Benigno Simeon Aquino III with 5,028,466 votes. Edgardo Angara of Team Unity (TU) had 4,511,859 votes, Gregorio Honasan (Ind.) got 4,191,191, while Joker Arroyo (TU) took 4,132,857. Filling up the remaining three slots in the Magic 12 were GO bets Alan Peter Cayetano (4,029,758 votes), Antonio Trillanes IV (3,932,052) and Aquilino "Koko" Pimentel III (3,855,797). Within striking distance are TU candidates Juan Miguel Zubiri (3,727,783 votes), Ralph Recto (3,650,351) and Prospero Pichay (3,523,743). Meanwhile, Trillanes' supporters gathered near the La Salle gymnasium in San Juan where Namfrel was conducting its quick count, warning that the poll watchdog would be used by Zubiri's camp for "trending" Zubiri was "deducted" 228,168 votes after Namfrel staff corrected a clerical error last Sunday. - GMANews.TV