FIVE reelectionists, four rookies, and three returnees were proclaimed Wednesday, May 22, as the 12 senators elected in the May 13 midterm elections.
The Commission on Elections (Comelec), sitting as the National Board of Canvassers (NBOC), completed Tuesday night, May 21, the canvassing of all 167 Certificates of Canvass (COCs), including that from the United States.
Also set to be proclaimed later Wednesday are the winners in the party-list race, led by the Anti-Crime and Terrorism Community Involvement and Support (ACT-CIS).
The 12 new senators, ranked according to the votes they received, are reelectionist Senator Cynthia Villar (25,283,727), Senator Grace Poe (22,029,788), former presidential aide Christopher “Bong” Go (20,657,702), comebacking senator Pia Cayetano (19,789,019), former police chief Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa (19,004,225), reelectionist Senator Juan Edgardo “Sonny” Angara (18,161,862), actor and returning senator Manuel “Lito” Lapid (16,965,464), Ilocos Norte Governor Maria Imelda Josefa “Imee” Marcos (15,882,628), former presidential political adviser Francis Tolentino (15,510,026), reelectionist Senator Aquilino “Koko” Pimentel III (14,668,665), comebacking senator Ramon “Bong” Revilla Jr. (14,624,445), and reelectionist Senator Nancy Binay (14,504,936).
They were proclaimed in a ceremony that lasted more than an hour starting around 10 a.m. Wednesday.
The 12 new senators-elect will serve for six years beginning noon of June 30.
Tolentino arrived first among the senators-elect while Cayetano came in last. They were accompanied by their respective family members and were proclaimed individually by a member of the NBOC, with Abas reading the certificate of proclamation for Villar.
Villar, who received the highest number of votes, delivered a speech in behalf of the other 11 senators-elect.
Meanwhile, the NBOC still has to make a computation of the seat allocations for each group using the "Banat formula" previously issued by the Supreme Court.
There are a total of 61 seats, or about 20 percent of the membership of the House of Representatives, that will be occupied by party-list representatives.
As planned earlier, the NBOC is set to proclaim the winning senators in the morning and the party-list representatives in the evening. (HDT/SunStar Philippines)