Proclamation of new president, VP on May 31 or June 1 —Pimentel

With the canvassing of votes for president and vice president moving at a quick pace, a lawmaker assured the public on Thursday night that they would proclaim the country's new top leaders anytime next week.

Senator Aquilino Pimentel III, co-chair of the joint canvassing committee, said the proclamation can be done either May 31 or June 1.

"Maybe Tuesday or Wednesday (next week) ang proclamation. Kasi there will be a report, it will be the joint session that will proclaim. The report will be a simple one because the system generates the final report. We will submit the report to the joint session," he said.

Congress, sitting as the National Board of Canvassers, has so far tallied 113 out of 165 certificates of canvass representing close to 40 million votes for the presidential and vice presidential races.

The NBOC, which was convened last Tuesday, will resume the count at 2 p.m. Friday at the Batasang Pambansa in Quezon City.

Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte continued to dominate the presidential race while Senator Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr. edged out rival Camarines Sur Rep. Leni Robredo in the partial tally released by Congress on Thursday evening.

At one point, Marcos led by more than two million votes due to election results from so-called "Solid North" before Robredo narrowed the gap through the support of votes from Visayas.

As of 9:46 p.m. Thursday, Marcos enjoys a slim lead of 83,480 votes as he received 13,214,810 votes as against Robredo's 13,131,330 votes.

They were followed by Senators Alan Peter Cayetano (5,546,631 votes), Francis Escudero (4,639,594), Antonio Trillanes IV (794,814) and Gregorio Honasan II (695,593). —KG, GMA News