Congress can proclaim winners by early June

The Senate and the House of Representatives will convene in a joint session as the National Canvassing Board to proclaim the country’s new president and vice president in early June.

Senate President Franklin Drilon said Congress may be able to proclaim the next president and vice president in just over a week after resuming session on May 24.

"We can start as scheduled. I am certain that we will be receiving the certificates of canvass (COCs) before that time," Drilon said.

For his part, Speaker Jose de Venecia Jr. explained that the joint session of Congress will approve a resolution on May 24 to constitute both legislative chambers into the National Board of Canvassers that will proclaim the country’s two new leaders.

De Venecia said the process will depend on the timely transmittal of the COCs.

"It (the proclamation of the new president and vice president) may even take three or four days. It depends," he said.

House officials said the speed of the canvassing will depend entirely on the arrival of COCs from the country’s cities and 79 provinces as well as results from the absentee voting system.

House Deputy Secretary General Artemio Adasa said the length of canvassing would also depend on the agreement of both lawmaking bodies on the time frame and procedures for the canvass.

He said they have started coordinating with their counterparts in the Senate on the systems and procedures for the canvassing.

Adasa said the COCs and election returns from the provinces and cities will be received by the Senate in Pasay City before it will be transmitted "under heavy security" to the House at the Batasan complex in Quezon City.

The election forms will be formally received by House Secretary General Roberto Nazareno for custody.

Nazareno, in turn, will formally present the COCs before the National Board of Canvassers as required by law to canvass the votes and proclaim the winners of the two highest elected positions in the land.

During an interview with cable television news ANC, Drilon expressed optimism that the National Board of Canvassers will speedily perform its mandate of proclaiming the new president and vice president before the end of the month.

Under the Constitution, the new President and Vice President should formally take their oath of office at noon of June 30.

"I am confident that we can start on May 24 with a substantial number of COCs with us and we hope to finish the process before the end of May, depending of course on the number of COCs that will be submitted on time. I am confident that we will be able to finish it. I don’t see any delay," Drilon said.

Drilon, however, admitted there may be delays since opposing parties may contest each canvass result.

"There will be questions raised, but we will resolve them as swiftly as we can, and we should be able to proclaim the next president before June 30," Drilon said.

He dismissed the possibility of a repeat of the 1986 snap elections, during which opposition lawmakers walked out of the session hall after then Speaker Nicanor Yñiguez Jr. and other Kilusang Bagong Lipunan stalwarts virtually railroaded the proclamation of strongman Ferdinand Marcos as president, waving the "V" sign and chanting "Marcos pa rin!"

Drilon said the conduct of the 1986 snap elections cannot be compared to this year’s electoral exercise which, he said, was way ahead "in terms of orderliness and credibility."

"That is the reason why there was a very difficult canvassing process in the Interim Batasan then. I don’t expect, not at all, such scenario to happen," he said.

Drilon also pointed out his power as Senate president to call for an election in 60 days from June 30 should there be a failure to proclaim the next president.

Drilon though expressed confidence it would not come to that.

"I don’t think that we will reach that point," Drilon said. "Because I am certain that by the first week of June, at the least, we should have proclaimed the next President of the Republic. I assure the people that we can proclaim the next President by the first week of June."

Drilon assured the nation that the canvassing will be transparent and "no fraud will occur under his watch."

In the same interview, Drilon emphasized the timely delivery of the COCs, including those from abroad from the absentee voting exercise, to the National Board of Canvassers will determine the speed of the canvassing.

"As we speak here, we have already received 11 COCs from overseas absentee voting," he said.

Drilon said the Senate had just received the COCs from the Filipinos who voted in the absentee voting system from Phnom Penh, Cambodia.

He also said results from the absentee voting came in Wednesday from Laos, Palau, Brunei, Netherlands, Sweden, Norway, Egypt, Oman and Kenya.

"The reason why these were delivered to us early was because, first, they were not that big in number. But more importantly, they only voted for the president, vice president, senators and party list. So there is no contest that they see in the local level which usually would delay the sending of the certificates of canvass to us," Drilon said.

De Venecia, meantime, urged losing candidates to refrain from making "irresponsible and undocumented allegations."

"We must act rapidly to return the nation to normal and reassure the business and international community about the country’s continuing stability," he said.