Comelec to proclaim 6 new senators tonight

MANILA (Updated 6:14 p.m.) -- Six winning senatorial candidates will be proclaimed Thursday night after the Commission on Elections en banc, sitting as the National Board of Canvassers (NBOC), junked a motion seeking to suspend the proclamation.

"The commission en banc has unanimously resolved to deny the petition. We will proceed with the canvassing and the proclamation," said Brillantes, referring to the motion filed by the United Nationalist Alliance (UNA).

Brillantes said Resolution NBOC 0001-13 issued at 5 p.m. is no longer appealable according to Comelec rules.

"The decision of the Comelec en banc cannot be the subject of a motion for reconsideration," he said.

In its resolution, the NBOC said UNA's petition was filed "clearly to delay the proceedings." "Movant based its allegations on hearsays like newspaper accounts, unfounded suspicions and the lack of knowledge of the system it attempts to discredit," it stated.

UNA cited in its motion Thursday, the slow transmission of election results to the NBOC and the alleged manipulation of Smartmatic personnel of election data received by the transparency server.

In defense, the NBOC said that the alleged manipulation of the said data is part of the authorized maintenance procedure of the servers conducted by Smartmatic personnel to secure that the servers are properly functioning.

"There is nothing abnormal, anomalous or irregular with the said procedure…Even if proven true, the result in the transparency server has no direct relation or effect to the proceedings before the NBOC," the resolution said as it stressed that results transmitted to the transparency server are unofficial.

The NBOC said UNA should challenge the election results by presentation of election returns and certificates of canvass, copies of which are provided to them being the dominant minority party.

"Movant UNA must show by presentation of its own copies of the ERS and COCs that there is a discrepancy in the votes being canvassed by the board. Until it does, the board cannot grant UNA's prayer on the basis of mere suspicions, conjectures or unfounded doubts," the resolution said.

The NBOC further said that the current rate of transmission to the NBOC is "normal and regular" and even considerably faster compared to the 2010 presidential elections when the first automated system was implemented.

"There is not merit in UNA's claim of delay in the transmission. The speed of transmission to the transparency or Comelec central serer of the unofficial clustered precinct results (contained in the electronic ERs) cannot be compared to the rate of transmission to the NBOC of the official results (contained in the city or provincial COCs)," it added.

Earlier in the day, Brillantes himself announced that they will proclaim five or six winning senatorial candidates once they decide to junk UNA's motion.

UNA said it is hoping that Comelec will decide to defer the proclamation of "any and all" the 12 senatorial candidates.

According to the official results canvassed by the NBOC, Team PNoy's Grace Poe remains on top of the 33-man field with 6,978,111 votes. She is followed by her fellow administration bet Loren Legarda with 6,405,625.

Only 72 certificates of canvass out of the 304 have been tallied by the NBOC counting 13.38 million votes.

Meanwhile, Francis Escudero and Alan Peter Cayetano traded places in the latest official tally. Cayetano took the third spot with 5,989,369 votes, which is higher by 1,000 votes compared to fourth placer Escudero, who got 5,944,573 votes.

Also in the top six are Nancy Binay with 5,787,423 and Juan Edgardo Angara with 5,593,601.

Official tally as of 5:30 p.m., May 16, 2013:

1. Poe, Grace -- 6,978,111

2. Legarda, Loren -- 6,405,625

3. Cayetano, Alan Peter -- 5,989,369

4. Escudero, Francis -- 5,944,573

5. Binay, Nancy -- 5,787,423

6. Angara, Juan Edgardo -- 5,593,601

7. Aquino, Paolo Benigno IV -- 5,255,177

8. Pimentel, Aquilino III -- 5,186,529

9. Trillanes, Antonio IV -- 4,968,187

10. Estrada, JV Ejercito -- 4,939,197

11. Villar, Cynthia -- 4,833,722

12. Honasan, Gregorio -- 4,667,276

13. Gordon, Richard -- 4,479,287

14. Zubiri, Juan Miguel -- 4,164,541

15. Enrile, Jack -- 4,125,323

16. Magsaysay, Ramon Jr. -- 3,913,064

17. Hontiveros, Risa -- 3,723,857

18. Hagedorn, Edward -- 3,032,770

19. Villanueva, Eddie -- 2,405,127

20. Madrigal, Jamby -- 2,238,534

21. Magsaysay, Mitos -- 1,874,627

22. Casiño, Teddy -- 1,549,394

23. Maceda, Ernesto -- 1,295,902

24. Cojuangco, Margarita -- 1,210,914

25. Delos Reyes, John Carlos -- 419,104

26. Belgica, Greco -- 411,082

27. Alcantara, Samson -- 417,657

28. Penson, Ricardo -- 367,963

29, David, Rizalito -- 337,831

30. Montaño, Ramon -- 333,514

31. Llasos, Marwil -- 236,675

32. Señeres, Christian -- 235,004

33. Falcone,Baldomero -- 220,572

As for the proclamation of the other winning candidates, Brillantes said it might be completed by Friday.

"If we proclaim tonight, we shall try to finish it all by tomorrow (Friday) night," he said.

Also, Brillantes earlier said that it will suspend the release of election results based on the Comelec transparency server during the proclamation of winning senatorial candidates.

"We will suspend transparency while we are proclaiming and then they can resume after proclamation and they can publish after. They will just take a break, suspend during the proclamation. It is showing some respect to the National Board of Canvassers," he said.

But its accredited citizen's arm Parish Pastoral Council for Responsible Voting and media group Kapisan nang mga Brodkaster sa Pilipinas called on Comelec not to stop transmitting data through the transparency server.

"We are more concerned now that we will go dark on the votes from 18,600 PCOS (precinct count optical scan) machines, equivalent to 11.5 million votes," said PPCRV chair Henrietta De Villa in a press conference.

The transparency server receives election results direct from the polling precincts while the data transmitted to the NBOC goes through a ladderized system from the municipality, city, provincial, and then regional. (Kathrina Alvarez/Virgil Lopez/HDT/Sunnex)

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