Winners have to wait.

he Commission on Elections said Thursday that it will postpone the partial proclamation of winning senatorial candidates Saturday.

On Wednesday the COMELEC announced it will be able to proclaim nine of the 12 winners in the senatorial race over the weekend. The commission had given itself until Friday to finish its tally at the Philippine International Convention Center in Pasay City.

Thursday's announcement followed a complaint from election lawyer Romulo Macalintal of the administration-backed Team Unity. He said the COMELEC has no right to partially proclaim winning candidates until all the votes are canvassed.

"Maari lang magawa 'yan kung ang [certificates of canvass] na hindi din dumarating ay hindi na darating. In other words hindi mo na makikita kailanman (A partial proclamation of winning candidates can only be done if the certificates of canvass that have failed to arrive will no longer arrive)," Macalintal said

As of 6:30 p.m. Thursday, opposition senatorial candidate Loren Legarda continued to lead the pack in the latest partial and unofficial count of the COMELEC.

Legarda received 13,429,994 votes, followed by fellow Genuine Opposition candidates Francis Escudero (13,267,409), Panfilo Lacson (11,183,342) and Manuel Villar (11,129,535). Independent candidate Francis Pangilinan remained in fifth place with 10,562,117 votes.

In sixth-10th places were GO’s Benigno Aquino III (10,344,429), Team Unity’s Edgardo Angara (8,832,343), GO’s Alan Peter Cayetano (8,486,757), Joker Arroyo of TU (8,403,409) and independent Gregorio Honasan (8,313,266).

Antonio Trillanes IV (8,036,988) and Aquilino Pimentel III (7,683,384), both from the opposition, ranked the 11th and 12th, respectively.

Behind Pimentel were TU’s Juan Miguel Zubiri (7,647,612), Ralph Recto (7,607,490) and Michael Defensor (7,016,505) who filled up the 13th, 14th and 15th places, respectively.


source: abscbn news

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