Leni takes early lead in canvassing

MANILA, Philippines – Administration vice presidential candidate Leni Robredo led her closest rival Sen. Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. as the official congressional canvass of votes for president and vice president got underway yesterday.

At 9 p.m., the joint Senate-House of Representatives tabulation committee had tallied 45 of the 165 certificates of canvass (COCs). Robredo had received 3,399,828 votes against Marcos’ 3,148,312 – a margin of about 250,000 votes.

Marcos would have narrowed Robredo’s lead with votes from Ilocos Sur, considered his bailiwick.

However, the canvassing of the Ilocos Sur COC was deferred due to objections from members of the canvassing panel and candidates’ lawyers. Earlier, the tabulation of COCs from Laguna and Davao del Norte was also deferred.

The early trend in the official count was the reverse of that in the unofficial tally by the Parish Pastoral Council for Responsible Voting (PPCRV).

On May 9, shortly after voting closed, Marcos posted a 900,000-vote lead over Robredo. However, Robredo started to overtake him the next day.

As of 8 p.m., Sen. Alan Peter Cayetano had polled 683,784 votes, while Sen. Francis Escudero had 553,960. Senators Gregorio Honasan and Antonio Trillanes IV got 104,089 and 97,485, respectively.

In the presidential race, Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte led his opponents.

By 9 p.m., he had received over 3.7 million votes.

As of 8 p.m., administration standard-bearer Mar Roxas had 974,899. Sen. Grace Poe polled 902,105 while Vice President Jejomar Binay had 590,194.

Sen. Miriam Defensor-Santiago was credited with 174,631 votes. The late Rep. Roy Señeres had 2,089 votes.

Duterte’s rivals have already conceded to him.

The congressional count was off to a slow start with the canvassing of the Davao del Sur COC, which took about one and a half hours.

The joint canvass committee’s staff took out COCs from several towns in the province and put its observations on their condition on record.

At this point, Cagayan de Oro City Rep. Rufus Rodriguez suggested that the staff should produce only the provincial and city COCs and not the municipal certificates.

He said under the Constitution, it is the COCs from provinces and cities and the canvassing boards for local and absentee voting that Congress should tally.

Rodriguez’s suggestion hastened the tabulation.

Due to the objections of Sen. Joseph Victor Ejercito and some lawyers, the canvass committee deferred the tabulation of the Laguna COC.

Robredo won big in Guimaras, Siquijor, Bacolod City and Cebu City.

In Cebu City, she had 92,007 votes against Marcos’ 23,506. Cebu City gave her 162,506, while Marcos received 92,007.

She narrowly lost to Marcos in President Aquino’s home province of Tarlac. She had 247,606 votes against her closest rival’s 261,987.

In the presidential race, it was Roxas who won in Tarlac. He received 194,974 votes, followed by Poe with 185,918 and Duterte with 159,187.