Senator Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. and Camarines Sur Rep. Leonor “Leni” Robredo, locked in a close race for the vice-presidency, attended Holy Mass with their supporters in separate churches yesterday and issued statements that reflected their deep, however opposing, beliefs that each of them won last Monday’s elections.

At noon, Senator Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos attended Holy Mass on Pentecost Sunday – the end of the Easter Season, at the Our Lady of Redemptorist Church (Baclaran Church) in Parañaque City with his family and horde of supporters in their political color.

Later at 3 o’clock, Camarines Sur 5th District Rep. Leni Robredo led the Church of Gesu’s fill of parishioners dressed in yellow, among them her three daughters, at the Ateneo de Manila University (ADMU) in Quezon City.

BONGBONG’S PRAYER

After the Eucharistic celebration in Baclaran also attended by former First Lady Imelda Marcos, Sen. Marcos said he prayed for truth and integrity in the entire electoral process.

He expressed gratitude to his volunteers and supporters for helping him in the campaign and keeping the faith as he fights for the integrity of the elections, despite the concerns he has raised over the results of the on-going quick count.

“I want to profusely thank our volunteers and our supporters for their selfless act of giving their time and effort in helping ensure free, honest and credible elections,” Marcos expressed.

Earlier, he urged the Commission on Elections (Comelec) to stop the on-going quick count of the Parish Pastoral Council for Responsible Voting (PPCRV) after reports that a script was introduced into the transparency server of the poll body that altered the hash codes without prior authorization of top Comelec officials. Marcos started to lose the lead shortly thereafter.

He believes that the prayers and words of encouragement of his volunteers and supporters nationwide continue to inspire him to keep on seeking the truth.

He also appealed for continued vigilance not only from his supporters but also from the election watchdogs as well, as he cited reports that as of Friday over 3,800 Vote Counting Machines (VCMs) still could not transmit election results.

“With a considerable number of votes that have yet to be transmitted we have to remain vigilant, yet calm and sober, to ensure that the true will of the people will be reflected in the results of the elections,” Marcos said.

“A total of 555 VCMs from polling precincts in the Middle East and Africa still have to transmit results, 310 from North and Latin America, 339 from Asia and 152 from Europe. These VCMs should supposedly account for around 980,000 registered voters.”

“Likewise, 333 VCMs from Lanao del Sur still need to transmit election results, 207 from Surigao del Sur, 158 in Maguindanao and 160 in Sulu.”

“I will rest when I am satisfied that the results that are being counted, that are official, are actually validated by the results as we can certainty confirm it from local reports that we get from the different precincts,” Marcos concluded.

LENI CLAIMS VICTORY

In the hastily-called meeting of supporters at the Ateneo de Manila University in Quezon City, Robredo declared that even if she got zero from all the nine municipalities and detainee polling centers that have not yet been canvassed, she will still lead Marcos in the count.

“Parati na lang tayo worst case scenario ang tinitingnan.  Pero kahit zero tayo at halos imposible naman ito, panalo pa rin tayo (We always consider the worst case scenario.  But even if we got zero, which is impossible, we still won),” Robredo declared before some 2,000 supporters who attended a Mass for Thanksgiving and National Unity at the Gesu Chapel.

Bong Dy, a senior staff of the Robredo campaign headquarters, said Robredo would still enjoy a 24,341 margin over the senator even if she fails to get even a single vote from the remaining 233,226 votes untallied in the official count of the Comelec.

The latest count indicated that Robredo is ahead of Marcos by 257,567 votes.

Dy said data made available by the Comelec indicated that it would be mathematically impossible for Marcos to overcome Robredo’s lead.

“Sa kasalukuyang tala ng Commission on Elections (Comelec) na makukuha mula sa kanilang website as of 2 p.m., pumasok na ang 99.51% ng mga bilang mula sa lahat ng siyudad at munisipyo sa bansa. Siyam na munisipiyo na lang ang wala pang naitatalang Certificate of Canvass (COCs),” said Dy.

Still uncanvassed resutls are from Rizal, Laguna; Allen, Northern Samar;Catarman, Northern Samar; Lope de Vega, Northern Samar; Binidayan, Lanao del Sur; Masiu, Lanao del Sur; Tamparan, Lanao del Sur; Indanan, Sulu; and Bacungan, Zamboanga del Norte.

According to Dy even if Marcos wins all the 168,988 votes from the nine remaining municipalities, “it will not be enough for him to overcome Robredo’s lead.”

Cheered by a huge supporters that included movie stars, top political allies, members of the academe and the religious, Robredo called for reconciliation in the country, saying that the tasks remain the most significant but difficult job winners in the elections have to fulfill.

Robredo recounted that while subjected to social media bashing, she merely shrugged off criticisms hurled against her, pointing out that reacting would do nothing good.

“Hindi tayo mangangantiyaw. Sisiguraduhin lang natin na ang numero ay tama at nandiyan,” she said.

BBM, DUTERTE WIN IN OAV

Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte and Sen. Bongbong Marcos were the top pick of overseas Filipino voters for president and vice president, respectively.

Based on the breakdown of overseas absentee voting (OAV) released by Commission on Elections (Comelec) Commissioner Rowena Guanzon in her Twitter account, Duterte received the most votes for president with 313,346, followed by Mar Roxas with 41,263.

However, Guanzon said the data was still subject to audit.

Duterte won the most votes in all Philippine posts except for the Vatican, where Roxas received 98 votes as opposed to the 74 raked in by the mayor.

Among the posts where Duterte received a big number of votes were Qatar, Singapore, Saudi Arabia, Hong Kong, Abu Dhabi, United States, Canada, Tokyo, Canberra, Athens, Berlin, Berne, Brunei, Muscat, Amman, Paris, Wellington, and Taiwan.

For vice president, Marcos received the most votes with 176,669; followed by Robredo with 89,935.

Marcos was also able to capture majority of votes in 49 Philippines posts while the remaining 10 went to Robredo.

These 10 posts are Agana, United States, Canberra, Jakarta, The Vatican, New Delhi, Yangon, Berne, The Hague, and Port Moresby.

The Comelec – Office for Overseas Voting (OFOV) said a total of 432,706 overseas Filipino voters actually cast their votes in the May 2016 polls for a 31.44 percent voter turnout.

There are 1.3 million registered overseas Filipino voters.

The Comelec, sitting as the National Board of Canvassers (NBoC), finished canvassing all the 59 Certificates of Canvass (COCs) from Philippine posts abroad, Saturday.

The Comelec is canvassing votes for senators and party-list representatives while Congress will be the ones that will canvass the votes for president and vice president.

Source:
courtesy of MANILA BULLETIN

by Freddie G. Lazaro & Ben R. Rosario

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