No separate canvassing of votes for president, VP races

The starting date for the canvassing of votes for president and vice president has been set for Wednesday afternoon despite an attempt by a member of Senator Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr.’s camp to have the votes tallied for the two positions separately.

The two chambers of Congress convened in a joint session Tuesday afternoon to discuss the rules for the canvass.

Senate President Franklin Drilon and House Speaker Feliciano Belmonte Jr. presided over the session together at the Batasan Pambansa complex in Quezon City. The session started at 3:57 p.m., or close to two hours behind schedule.

During the session, Abakada party-list Rep. Jonathan dela Cruz moved to amend Rule VI, Section 10 of the rules of canvassing, claiming that there were two separate certificates of canvass (COCs) for president and vice president.

The provision reads: “The Joint Committee shall decide all questions and issues raised involving the COCs by a majority vote of its Members, each panel voting separately. In case the two panels disagree, the decision of the Chairpersons shall prevail. In case of a deadlock, the matter shall be resolved by the President of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives.

Dela Cruz, Marcos’ campaign adviser, said the joint panel should be authorized to decide on concerns regarding the top two elective posts separately.

“If it is advised by the body that the joint committee can make certain decisions regarding these candidates separately, then they can refer to the COCs separately because there are separate COCs for president and vice president,” Dela Cruz said.

Only one COC

House Majority Floor Leader Neptali Gonzales II, however, maintained that there was only one COC for president and vice president.

“I am not aware that there are separate COCs for president and vice president. As far as I know, there’s only one COC for the president and vice president,” Gonzales said.

When Dela Cruz insisted on the existence of two separate COCs for president and vice president, Gonzales advised him to raise the issue before the joint canvassing committee.

In addition to raising the issue of two separate COCs, Marcos’ ally also asked his colleagues how they would deal with discrepancies between the electronically transmitted election results reflected in the consolidation and canvassing system (CCS), and the manually counted and physically delivered COCs not transmitted in the CCS.

The rules of canvassing was eventually adopted by the House despite Dela Cruz’s objection.

Canvassing members

The Senate contingent for canvassing will be led by Sen. Aquilino Pimentel III. He is joined in the panel by Senators Juan Edgardo Angara, Teofisto Guingona III, Sergio Osmeña III, Ralph Recto, Juan Ponce Enrile and Vicente “Tito” Sotto III.

Designated as alternative members of the joint committee were Senators Cynthia Villar and Joseph Victor Ejercito.

Meanwhile, the House panel tasked to canvass votes are composed of Majority Floor Leader Neptali Gonzales II, Reps. Elpidio Barzaga Jr., Romero Quimbo, Reynaldo Umali, Rufus Rodriguez, Fredenil Castro, and Silvestre Bello III.

Reps. Oscar Rodriguez, Ibarra Gutierrez, Rolando Andaya and Ronaldo Zamora were appointed as alternative members of the House joint committee.

'Proclaim Duterte first'

Marcos had earlier asked Congress, sitting as the National Board of Canvassers (NBOC), to immediately proclaim Rodrigo Duterte president since his lead over his closest rival had already been clearly established.

The senator, however, expressed his “strong reservations” about the canvassing of results in the vice presidential race because of the alleged “irregularities” which he believed occurred in the May 9 polls.

Camarines Sur Rep. Leni Robredo's camp has claimed a lead of some 260,000 votes over Marcos based on their internal tally of all 166 certificates of canvass. —NB/JST, GMA News