Metro Manila (CNN Philippines) — The National Board of Canvassers, which will count the votes and declare winners of the senatorial race and the congressional party-lists, has decided to speed up its work by fully employing technology.
Instead of reading out the vote count for each candidate from each city or province, the board will put show electronic image of the certificates of canvass on a large screen, for the different political parties and poll watchdogs to review. These watchers’ job is to look out for any inconsistencies in the number of votes or anomalies in the results.
Comelec Chairman Andres Bautista officially kicked off the process by unlocking the automated canvassing and consolidation system on Tuesday (May 10) at the Philippine International Convention Center.
By late afternoon, the board had opened and accepted 29 certificates of canvass from the cities of San Juan, Baguio, Malabon, Lapu-lapu City in Cebu province, Cebu City, Taguig, Pateros, Bacolod, Sorsogon, Navotas; the provinces of Tarlac, Zambales, Batangas, Biliran, Batanes, North Cotabato, Siquijor; foreign posts in Yangon, Myanmar; Prague, Czech Republic; The Vatican; Buenos Aires, Argentina; Spain; Singapore; South Korea; Bahrain; Lebanon; and Qatar.
In case the returns are hard copies, the board will spread out the document on a long table for the political parties and poll watchdogs to inspect.
So far, there have been no objections to any of the results. This is important as this is the Comelec’s official count and the basis for declaring the winners.
Asked how long this process will take, Bautista only said, “Soon.” The Comelec’s rent of the canvassing facility is good only until Sunday, so the expectation is that there will be official results by the end of this week.
The official results for president and vice president will be canvassed by a joint session of the Senate and the Houses of Representatives at the Congress building in Quezon City.
