Congress canvassing starts May 25

MANILA, Philippines – The official congressional canvass of votes for president and vice president will most likely start on May 25, House Majority Leader Neptali Gonzales ll said yesterday.

Gonzales said Speaker Feliciano Belmonte Jr., Senate President Franklin Drilon and other leaders of Congress agreed on the timeline in a meeting on Tuesday.

“We agreed to meet first separately as a lawmaking body on May 23 and 24 to finish pending legislative measures, including some bicameral conference committee reports on bills that we have already approved,” he said.

The following day, the House of Representatives and Senate would convene and hold a joint session to start their work as national board of canvassers for presidential and vice presidential votes.

Gonzales said Congress would first have to approve its canvassing rules before tallying the votes.

“I foresee that after we adopt the rules, we will open and tally a few certificates of canvass (COCs),” he said.

Under the Constitution and the election law, there are two types of COCs that Congress will use in its tally: the electronic certificates to be generated by the computerized consolidation and canvassing system that Drilon and Belmonte initialized on Monday, and the manually accomplished COCs to be delivered by the provincial, city and special canvassing board to the Senate.

The canvassing committee that the House and the Senate will create will have no problem if there are no variances in the votes reflected in the two types of COCs and there are no objections to them from committee members and representatives of candidates.

Drilon said the joint rules of the Senate and the House for the National Board of Canvassers (NBOC) would contain a provision to exclude the candidates for president and vice president from participating in the canvassing of votes.

Seven senators ran for higher office in the recently concluded elections, namely Grace Poe and Miriam Defensor-Santiago, who ran for president, and Ferdinand Marcos Jr., Alan Peter Cayetano, Francis Escudero, Antonio Trillanes IV and Gregorio Honasan, who all ran for vice president.

Drilon said two other senators – Nancy Binay and Pia Cayetano – would  also have to be excluded by virtue of their being directly related to Vice President Jejomar Binay and Sen. Alan Peter Cayetano, who ran for president and vice president, respectively.

Excluding himself, who would serve as co-chairman of the NBOC, and Sens. Jinggoy Estrada and Ramon Revilla Jr., who are in detention, Drilon said that only 12 senators would be left to choose from as members of the NBOC.

“So very tight. We have to constitute a committee of nine to do the actual canvass, so that leaves us only with 13 senators, and that includes me. So there are only 12 senators from where we can choose the nine,” Drilon said.

It was not clear if Sen. Paolo Benigno Aquino IV would be among the senators who could be part of the NBOC given the fact that he was the campaign manager of Camarines Sur Rep. Leni Robredo, who ran for vice president.

Drilon could not give a timeframe on when the entire canvassing would be concluded, although they have until June 30 to proclaim a president and vice president.

On Tuesday, Gonzales said the tight vice presidential race could delay the official canvass. Robredo is leading by a slim margin over Marcos in the unofficial tally. 

“I really cannot give a timeframe. I do not see any problem with the presidency, but given the very tight race for the vice presidency, I would refrain from making any predictions, given the fact that we do not know how things would evolve, or what questions will be raised,” Drilon said.

Drilon was on hand at the Senate yesterday morning to receive the first ballot box containing the COC from San Juan City, a ceremonial duty as part of the process outlined in the Constitution.

“All of these certificates of canvass will be delivered to the Senate, and we will physically transfer these to the Batasan complex in Quezon City, where the canvassing will take place,” Drilon said.

Security has been tight at the Senate since Monday for the reception and storage of the ballot boxes and COCs before their transport to the House.

When Congress resumes session, the incumbent legislators would also work on passing some bills that were left hanging when their sessions were adjourned last Feb. 6

“I met yesterday with Speaker Belmonte. There are a number of bills which are on the last stages of enactment, particularly five bicameral conference committee reports that will have to be ratified by the House,” Drilon said. – With Marvin Sy