MANILA, Philippines – To help speed up the canvassing process, the Commission on Elections (Comelec) on Wednesday, May 15, ordered local canvassers to fax delayed tallies to the national board of canvassers (NBOC) based in Manila.

The Comelec will use these tallies in monitoring, not necessarily in the official canvassing. It will not require local boards to submit entire certificates of canvass (COCs), but only the portions concerning senatorial bets.

In Resolution No. 9701 promulgated Wednesday, the Comelec issued this directive to provincial canvassing boards, as well as certain city boards, that “have not yet transmitted their respective certificates of canvass to the national board of canvassers as of 5 o’ clock in the afternoon of May 15, 2013.”

The Comelec ordered these canvassing boards to print the Grouped Canvass Reports for all senatorial bets, and “immediately” send these to the NBOC.

If canvassers have no report to send yet, after failing to receive at least 70% of election returns or COCs, the poll body provides a temporary remedy. It orders these canvassers a “Monitor Results Transmission” report, detailing what the canvassers have so far.

Earlier on Wednesday, Comelec chair Sixto Brillantes Jr admitted that technical problems have delayed the canvassing process. Brillantes, however, declined to disclose these concerns.

He said the Comelec will issue new rules to speed up the canvassing.

The NBOC, so far, has processed over 7% of the total number of COCs. Based on the latest NBOC report, the administration ticket, Team PNoy, has mostly filled the winning slate. Opposition bet Richard “Dick” Gordon is among those who have tentatively entered the Magic 12. – Rappler.com