Finally, joint session gets canvass going
By Jess Diaz (The Philippine Star) Updated May 28, 2010 12:00 AM
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MANILA, Philippines - The canvassing of votes for president and vice president finally got underway last
night, with a total of 3,854 votes tallied and 37 million more to go.
The joint Senate-House of Representatives tabulation committee decided to open the certificates of canvass
(COCs) for absentee voting first.
The decision came after more than three hours of repetitious debates on technical issues related to the
automated elections, most of which were extensively discussed during Wednesday’s first session of the
committee.
The initial tally of votes from overseas Filipinos showed that the Liberal Party tandem of Senators Benigno
Aquino lll and Manuel “Mar” Roxas II clobbered their opponents.
First to be canvassed was the overseas absentee voting (OAV) COC from Laos.
Aquino received 55 votes, followed by Sen. Manuel Villar Jr., 38; Sen. Richard Gordon, 28; Gilberto Teodoro
Jr., 18; former President Joseph Estrada, 16; and Eddie Villanueva, 14.
The other presidential candidates obtained no votes.
In the vice presidential race, Roxas received 72 votes, followed by Estrada’s running mate Makati Mayor
Jejomar Binay, with 33; Sen. Loren Legarda, 27; Bayani Fernando, 24; Perfecto Yasay Jr., 9; Edu Manzano, 4;
and Jay Sonza, one vote.
The canvassing committee spent nearly an hour to dispose of the COCs from Laos.
Next to be tallied was the COC from Guam with Aquino obtaining 277 votes, followed by Villar, 86; Teodoro,
71; Gordon, 29; Estrada. 11; and Sen. Jamby Madrigal, two votes.
In the vice presidential race, Roxas received 310 votes, followed by Legarda, 75; Fernando, 54; Binay, 40;
Yasay, 8; and Sonza with two votes.
The committee took 20 minutes to canvass the COCs from Guam.
The third COC that was canvass came from Brunei.
Aquino was credited with 1,158 votes, followed by Villar, 330; Madrigal, 5; and Nicanor Perlas, 1.
Roxas received 932, followed by Legarda, 654; Binay, 424; Fernando, 220; Yasay, 114; Manzano, 88; and
Sonza, 26.
After also getting the votes from Papua New Guinea and Thailand, the total results showed Aquino obtained
2,014 votes, followed by Villar with 585. Teodoro obtained 548, Estrada, 400, Gordon, 298, Madrigal, 7 and
Perlas, two votes.
In the vice presidential race, Roxas received 1,920 votes, followed by Legarda, 855; Binay, 642; Fernando,
459; Yasay, 182; and Sonza, 31.
The canvassing committee adjourned after tallying five OAV COCs. It will reconvene at 1 p.m. today.
Before the opening of the certificates of canvass (COCs), Speaker Prospero Nograles, presiding over the
tabulation jointly with Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile, suggested that the initial tally be limited to
manually prepared COCs.
“This is because we still have to resolve the issues related to the PCOS (precinct count optical scan)
machines, memory cards and the automation of the elections in general,” Nograles said.
He said the tallying of the provincial and city COCs electronically transmitted to the canvass server at the
House and the corresponding canvass documents delivered to Enrile’s office at the Senate would be
deferred until the automation issues are settled.
The joint committee adopted Nograles’ suggestion despite repeated assurances from Chairman Jose Melo
and other members of the Commission on Elections and its automation contractor, Smartmatic that the
automation system largely worked well and the election results as reflected in the COCs could be relied
upon as to accuracy and authenticity.
Nograles expressed doubts on the reliability of the Comelec-Smartmatic automation system.
Thus, the panel proceeded with the opening and tabulation of the overseas and local absentee voting COCs
since these were manually prepared and transmitted to Enrile’s office, except those from Hong Kong and
Singapore, where PCOS machines were used in the voting process and transmission of results.
Some committee members called attention to a section in the canvassing rules that requires the panel to
canvass COCs on a first in-first out basis, but Nograles said this was being temporarily suspended.
The canvassing panel initially wasted precious time debating on technical issues that Enrile said were
extensively discussed the day before and many of which were resolved in the hearings of the House
committee on suffrage and electoral reform.
The issues which Enrile said has been tackled lengthily included those relating to digital signatures on the
COCs and reconfiguration and importation by Smartmatic of the memory cards of more than 76,000
machines.
Two hours into the committee’s session, Enrile, who was visibly getting impatient with the way discussions
were going, told his colleagues, “We are getting delayed, we get bogged down on these technical issues.
We have to start the canvass.”
It was Enrile and House Majority Leader Arthur Defensor who elicited assurances from Comelec and
Smartmatic officials about the reliability and accuracy of their automation system.
At one point in the course of the debates, Enrile, who has just won releection, asked Maguindanao Rep.
Didagen Dilangalen if he was suggesting that the joint committee disregard the results of the May 10
elections.
“That is for the committee to decide,” Dilangalen said. “What I’m saying is that there was no full compliance
with the automation law.”
Dilangalen cited the report of American information technology company Systest the Comelec hired to
evaluate the Smartmatic system.
He said the company endorsed the system provided that certain “compensating controls” were put in place.
Despite an assurance from Comelec officials that Systest’s recommendations were followed, Dilangalen
insisted that the automation law was not fully complied with and there was basis to doubt the reliability of the
Smartmatic system and the authenticity of the election results.
Nograles and Estrada’s senator-son Jinggoy, who participated in the proceedings despite previously saying
he would inhibit himself from the canvass, suggested that the memory cards of the more than 76,000 PCOS
machines be examined.
Concerns over the delay of canvassing elicited several criticisms from various sectors after more than two
weeks since the elections was held and the candidates in the local and national level had been proclaimed.
The delay prompted Aquino to express concerns that Congress would not be able to meet the deadline set
by the Constitution on June 30.
Caloocan Bishop Deogracias Iñiguez of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) also
said he is hoping that the canvassing would be completed as scheduled.
Iñiguez said the inquiries and questions arising from the recent automated election were borne out of the
lack of transparency in the system.
Iñiguez said the lawmakers are just being careful in the canvassing before any official proclamation should
take place.
Even after the Senate and the House have approved the rules for canvassing, the lawmakers deliberating
over how the votes could be appreciated caused the delay in the canvass.
After almost a week of congressional joint session, lawmakers spent long hours debating on the whole
automated process.
What to use
Comelec Commissioner Rene Sarmiento pointed out the COCs that were electronically transmitted to
Congress should be used in the canvassing of votes for president and vice president.
The certificates contain the provincial and city summaries of votes cast for presidential and vice presidential
candidates, and the absentee voting results.
Sarmiento said that under the law automating the May 10 elections, it is the COCs that the provincial and city
boards of canvassers transmitted to the canvass consolidation server installed at the House that should be
used in the tally and the proclamation of winning candidates.
“We think that the canvassers should be guided more by the automation law than by the provision of the
Constitution on the matter,” he said, referring to the provision that the canvassing boards should deliver the
COCs in sealed ballot boxes to the Senate president who would then bring them to Congress when
canvassing begins.
Sarmiento, a member of the 1986 Constitutional Commission, explained the provision was based on the
old manual system of elections.
He said the framers of the Constitution could not have foreseen that 24 years later, the nation would
automate its electoral process.
The Comelec has directed its canvassing boards to comply with both the automation law by electronically
sending vote summaries to the House server, and with the Constitution by manually filling out COCs and
delivering them to the office of Enrile.
Under the canvassing rules Congress approved on Tuesday, the joint canvassing committee would
compare the two versions of the COCs – those found in the House server and those delivered to the office of
the Senate President.
Those that reflect identical votes for candidates and whose genuineness members of the joint canvassing
committee or lawyers of candidates do not question would be tallied.
Those that show discrepancies in the number of votes and those whose “due execution and authenticity” are
contested would be set aside first and the questions resolved later.
To resolve discrepancies and questions on the certificates, the committee is empowered to examine the
compact flash or memory cards of the PCOS machines, and to open a “predetermined” number of ballot
boxes, read the ballots and count the votes.
Sarmiento pointed out the rules, if invoked by lawyers of candidates and followed strictly, could result in a
delay in the canvassing process.
“The canvassers can compare the COCs, as the rules provide, but in case of conflict, the COCs found in the
House server should prevail. This is in accord with the automation law,” he said.
Two versions
The camp of former President Estrada has vowed to scrutinize the two versions of COCs for signs of fraud,
which Estrada’s canvassing lawyer George Garcia claimed benefited Senator Aquino.
In a television interview Tuesday, Garcia claimed the votes were shaved from Estrada and other presidential
candidates, whom he did not name.
On the other hand, Aquino’s votes were padded, he said.
Aquino is leading Estrada in the unofficial tally by about 5.1 million votes.
Garcia said he would ask the canvassing committee to require the production and examination of the more
than 76,000 PCOS machines and their memory cards.
During Wednesday’s first session of the joint Senate-House canvassing committee, the panel spent
considerable time in determining whether there are two sets of COCs – one for presidential votes and
another for vice presidential votes – sent by the provincial and city canvassing boards to the office of the
Senate President.
Comelec Commissioner Jose Melo pointed out that there should be only one COC containing the votes for
president and vice president.
However, Commissioner Gregorio Larrazabal informed the committee that Comelec had authorized the
canvassing boards to print in their computers “one document or file” consisting of two pages of the COC.
Larrazabal said one page should contain the summary of votes for presidential candidates and the other
should reflect the vice presidential votes.
“But those should be considered as a single document,” he said.
Enrile said if the COC consists of two pages that separately reflect the votes for president and vice president,
the canvassing committee could tally the votes separately to speed up its tally.
He said if the committee does that, it is possible that one winner might be proclaimed ahead of the other.
Sen. Edgardo Angara, however, opposed the idea of having a “segregated proclamation” for the two top
posts since it would pose bigger problems.
He said splitting proclamation “may unwittingly create a constitutional problem if not a crisis – that the vice
president will not be proclaimed within the life of the 14th Congress.”
Angara said the present Congress has the mandate to proclaim both the president and vice president.
Canvassing committee co-chairman Speaker Nograles said as much as possible, they would like to
proclaim the presidential and vice presidential winners together.
While Aquino has a five million-vote lead over Estrada, Roxas is still lagging behind Binay.
Binay’s lawyer in the national canvass, Aquilino “Koko” Pimentel III, said that Congress should proclaim the
winning presidential and vice presidential candidates together.
“This is because the canvass is based on the same certificates of canvass containing the votes for
president and vice president. They cannot tally the votes for president and set aside the votes for vice
president as there is only one document containing those votes,” he said.
Besides, the automation law requires that Congress proclaim the “winning candidates,” meaning the
winning presidential and vice presidential candidates, and not only one winner, he stressed.
Pimentel though admitted Binay would be adversely affected by any protest that Estrada might lodge with the
canvassing committee.
On the other hand, Pimentel said any questions that the lawyers of Roxas would raise would adversely affect
Aquino’s standing.
“So we will just watch and listen to the protest of our candidate’s standard-bearer and Senator Aquino’s
running mate,” he said.
Count them all
The Liberal Party, on the other hand, said they wanted a complete canvassing of all votes cast on May 10 to
ensure an accurate and credible count for the presidential and vice presidential race.
Both running second, Estrada of PMP and Roxas of LP have not yet conceded and would want to check until
the last vote is counted.
LP secretary-general Joseph Abaya stressed the canvassing by the joint congressional canvassers should
reflect accurately the actual votes recorded in the election returns from the 76,000 PCOS machines
distributed nationwide.
Abaya noted reports that the COCs transmitted to Congress were “incomplete,” pointing out that an
estimated five percent of total votes cast nationwide, or about 1.8 million votes, were not reflected in the
COCs transmitted by the Provincial Board of Canvassers.
This was a result of the lowering of the canvassing threshold in numerous cities and municipalities
nationwide, he said.
The Comelec had lowered the canvassing thresholds in various cities and municipalities to allow the
proclamations of winning local candidates, which were delayed due to glitches in the PCOS transmissions.
Abaya also noted that the votes canvassed in the precinct level, only 90.5 percent have been transmitted to
the Comelec main server and to the Pope Pius XII server in Manila.
He said the remaining 9.5 percent votes that have not yet been transmitted and which have yet to be counted
are equivalent to an estimated 3.6 million, which could significantly affect the outcome of the May 10
elections.
Abaya also cited reports that from the 90.5 percent transmission, about 260 PCOS machines reported only
10 votes or less and not the actual number of votes.
What were transmitted to the Comelec, according to Abaya, were the Final Sealing and Testing results in the
backup memory cards – which were the results during the testing stage of the PCOS machines and not the
actual votes during the May 10 elections.
“To determine the sovereign will of the Filipino people, and for the sake of accuracy, it is imperative that every
vote must be counted,” he said. –With Sheila Crisostomo, Jess Diaz, Delon Porcalla, Christina Mendez,
Evelyn Macairan, Rhodina Villanueva
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