Aquino, Pimentel, Trillanes proclaimed

MANILA, Philippines (UPDATED) – Social entrepreneur Bam Aquino and re-electionists Koko Pimentel and Antonio “Sonny” Trillanes were the latest to be officially proclaimed winners by the National Board of Canvassers (NBOC).

Of the 3 administration candidates from the President’s slate Team PNoy, however, only Aquino attended the proclamation on Friday, May 17. Trillanes was out of town while Pimentel said he disagrees with the decision of the NBOC to make an early proclamation.

As of Friday, the NBOC has canvassed at least 109 certificates of canvass (COC), or 35% of the total 301 COCs.

The 3 joined the 6 other senator-elects proclaimed a day earlier. The top 6 were former censors chief Grace Poe, Sen Loren Legarda, Sen Chiz Escudero, Sen Alan Peter Cayetano, the vice president’s daughter Nancy Binay, and Aurora Rep Sonny Angara. They were proclaimed Thursday night, May 16, by the NBOC despite opposition to it by the United Nationalist Alliance and other sectors.

Binay also snubbed her proclamation, after her coalition United Nationalist Alliance asked the Commission on Elections (Comelec) to delay the proclamation because of concerns over the slow transmission of results, which they fear may compromise results.

As of proclamation time, Aquino, in 7th place, received 14,086,288, 8th placer Pimentel had 13,466,306 while 9th placer Trillanes garnered 12,958,307 according to official results.

Of those proclaimed so far, 8 belong to Team PNoy while one ran under UNA.

Aquino, the youngest of the administration candidates at 36, is the only member of the Liberal Party (LP) who is expected to be proclaimed.

In accepting his certificate, Aquino thanked his supporters, his wife Timi, Team PNoy and the LP. He also appealed for unity in working towards reforms.

“I know being a senator won’t be easy, there are a lot of reforms that need to be done, changes our people need, like in the campaign we were able to do it because we worked together,” he said.

“While we are senator for the next 6 years, let’s all work together and do everything we can for our beloved country the Philippines.”

‘Something’s wrong’

Pimentel however chose not to attend his proclamation after airing his personal disapproval over what he called “a premature proclamation given the numbers” in an interview with the ABS-CBN News Channel moments before the proclamation.

“There are still about 5 million uncanvassed votes and the lead of candidates being proclaimed tonight from the 13th place is less than 5 million,” he said.

“Theoretically speaking, although unlikely, the unaccounted number of votes can change the results.”

He said NBOC “should wait a little longer to lessen the number of unaccounted votes.”

Pimentel also slammed Comelec’s alleged goal to break the record for quickest transmission, and said it should instead focus on the “doctrine,” to only proclaim winners when the votes can no longer change the proclaimed results, albeit theoretically.

“I just hope NBOC instead of going for speed, the record they should aspire for is being a stickler for rules to the letter. Thats a better record than a speed record,” he said.

Pimentel also clarified he does not think there are any irregular activities going on that could manipulate the results, but said “something’s wrong” about the decision to proclaim winners without citing the exact number of votes senator-elects received.

He said he would accept his proclamation once this was figured out.

Trillanes however said he would have attended his proclamation had he been in town. He said he respects Pimentel’s decision but said he personally feels the controversy around the proclamation are mere “formalities.”

“As far as I’m concerned all candidates by this time should know their total number of votes… all candidates presumably should have representatives per province and if you add the total per province, you get your total nationally,” he said. “The COCs per province should have been reported to your headquarters as early as Wednesday night.”– Rappler.com