THE Commission on Elections sitting as the National Board of Canvassers has still not released any canvassed reports or official count for senators and party-lists, three days after the start of canvassing.
Abono party-list secretary general Raul Casipit asked why the Comelec has not released any canvassed reports as it did in previous elections, saying this showed a lack of transparency.
In every other election, he said, the Comelec would release a series of reports summarizing and updating the votes that candidates obtained.
Journalists covering the elections also noted the lack of reports and had to buy copies of the CoCs instead.
Casipit said the canvassed reports are important because they provide all stakeholders an aggregate of official votes for specific periods.
“They should provide us with the canvassed reports that are signed by whoever is the authorized signatory,” Casipit said.
He added that this will also be their basis in proclaiming the winners.
The NBoC is currently canvassing a total of 165 certificates of canvass.
As of 9 p.m. Wednesday, the poll body has canvassed 68 CoCs of San Juan, Romblon, Cebu, Tarlac, Zambales, Baguio City, Batangas, Cebu, Biliran, Taguig-Pateros, Negros Occidental-Bacolod City, Camiguin, Sorsogon, Batanes, City of Malabon, City of Las Piñas, North Cotabato, Navotas, Siquijor, Laguna, Manila, Ilocos Sur, Malaysia, Guimaras, City of Pasig, Rizal, Mandaluyong, Oriental Mindoro, Albay, Muntinlupa, Dinagat Islands, Lanao del Norte, Camarines Norte, Benguet, Davao del Norte, Misamis Occidental, Antique, Compostela Valley, Occidental Mindoro, Bulacan, Misamis Oriental Catanduanes, Agusan del Norte, Quirino, Zamboanga del Sur, Bataan, Surigao del Sur, Masbate, Capiz, Ifugao, Cavite, City of Marikina, Kalinga, Davao del Sur, Davao Occidental, Tawi-Tawi and Pampanga.
Overseas votes already canvassed are those from Singapore, Spain, Bahrain, Lebanon, Korea, Qatar, Malaysia, Italy, Kuwait, Saudi, Japan, Prague, Buenos Aires, Vatican, Myanmar and Czech Republic.
The Parish Pastoral Council for Responsible Voting (PPCRV) said it could not yet add the more than 400,000 overseas absentee votes to its ongoing unofficial tally, despite a report from the special board of canvassers in Bahrain that it has already transmitted to the Comelec the canvassed election returns.
Those returns showed Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte with 75.06 percent of the total votes cast, followed by administration candidate Manuel Roxas II with 9.87 percent. In the vice presidential race, Senator Ferdinand Marcos Jr. received a high 44.97 percent of the total votes cast, followed by his closest rival, Senator Alan Peter Cayetano with 29.04 percent.
PPCRV media director Anna de Villa Singson told reporters that they have yet to receive the transmission of votes from abroad because the SBOC of the Philippine embassies abroad are still “consolidating” the results.
The Department of Foreign Affairs said only 7,269 voters cast their ballots at the Philippine Embassy in Bahrain, representing 39.3 percent of the 18,497 registered voters there.
Singson again denied there was any manipulation because they do not control the transmission of election returns from abroad.
The overseas votes are significant this year as they represent some 400,000 votes in a close vice presidential race with only 200,000 votes separating Senator Ferdinand Marcos Jr. and Camarines Sur Rep. Leni Robredo.
Singson said the PPCRV will continue to monitor OAV votes as well as those from areas where there would be special elections on Saturday for the sake of transparency in light of the tight contest in the vice presidential race.
“In a contest as tightly contested as this, every vote is important. So there is transparency and immediate transmission,” she said.
Edgardo Castro, chief of the Overseas Voting Secretariat of the Department of Foreign Affairs said that as of May 10, only 0.64 percent of OAV votes have been transmitted to the transparency server of the Commission on Elections.
