No quorum for early Congress canvass

MANILA, Philippines - Lawmakers are open to an early congressional canvassing of votes for president and vice president but mustering a quorum might pose a problem.

Speaker Prospero Nograles said May 24 would be a realistic target for the start of a canvass, as proposed by Mandaluyong City Rep. Neptali Gonzales II, who is House senior deputy majority leader.

Some lawmakers have expressed apprehension that getting a quorum might be a problem since many of those who got reelected might be on vacation while those who lost might not want to show up.

Without a quorum, Congress cannot convene and the proclamation of winners may be delayed.

Nograles said he would also ask the congressional oversight committee on poll automation to conduct a random manual audit of election results “to dispute allegations that so many precinct count optical scan machines have been pre-programmed to favor certain candidates.”

Gonzales said he trusts that his colleagues would work for a quorum “since this is our constitutional duty and could be our last act as members of the outgoing 14th Congress.”

The Senate and the House are scheduled to resume session on May 31 after the long election campaign. The two chambers would then convene into a national canvassing board to tabulate the presidential and vice presidential results.

But according to House Secretary-General Marilyn Yap, the two chambers have the option to meet earlier and start as a canvassing body even without President Arroyo calling for a special session.

All that is needed is for the Senate and the House to agree to meet in joint assembly to canvass the votes.

Two more congressmen – Rufus Rodriguez of Cagayan de Oro City and Eduardo Gullas of Cebu – have also joined the mounting calls for an early congressional count of votes for president and vice president.

“We have to determine who are the winners as soon as possible. Prolonging the canvass is not in synch with the automation of our elections and fuels more suspicions that some unscrupulous persons are out to manipulate the results,” Rodriguez said.

He said an early tabulation could also resolve the dispute between vice presidential candidates Sen. Manuel Roxas II and Makati Mayor Jejomar Binay.

“Let us meet on Monday, May 17, or if that is not possible, on May 24. Most tabulations in the provinces are already finished, and the certificates of canvass that we need should already be available,” he said.

In the unofficial canvass, Sen. Benigno Aquino III of the Liberal Party is leading his closest rival, former President Joseph Estrada, by about five million votes.

On the other hand, Binay, Estrada’s running mate, is ahead of Roxas, Aquino’s teammate, by about 800,000 votes.

“The sooner we proclaim the president-elect and the vice president-elect, the better to allow an expeditious changeover, and put the entire nation at ease,” Gullas said.

He said there is no point in waiting for the resumption of session on May 31 to start the canvass.

What could drag the count is the plan of Estrada’s camp to contest the apparent victory of Aquino by alleging fraud and wrong handling of canvass documents. 

Make it quick

Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile and Majority Leader Juan Miguel Zubiri also want the two chambers to convene immediately as national board of canvassers.

“I want to dispose of the problem as early as possible. But under our rules, we are supposed to reconvene to canvass the votes for president and vice president at the end of May,” Enrile said.

Enrile said he has asked his colleagues to determine if they can attend the session earlier than the May 31 schedule.

Zubiri lamented that while the Commission on Elections was fast in the transmission of votes at the national canvassing board at the Philippine International Convention Center, it was slow in providing the Senate with copies of the certificates of canvass (COCs) for the president and vice-president.

As of press time, the Senate has just received 43 of the 276 COCs nationwide.

“So I appeal to the Comelec to speed up the delivery of the electronic COCs. We can start the canvassing but if we do not have the certificates to canvass, what do we have to do this for? What is important, the electronically transmitted as well as the manually transmitted COCs be delivered as soon as possible,” Zubiri said.

Enrile vowed that Congress would be able to proclaim the new president by June 30.

“One thing I can assure the nation and the people, as far as I am concerned, I will see to it that we have a proclaimed president before June 30,” he said.

“We have to have a proclaimed president and vice-president before June 30. If the COCs will not come, then we have no other recourse but to open the electronically transmitted COCs with the participation of the entire nation if possible, media, including all the political parties, and canvass the votes transmitted to us electronically,” he added.

They also expressed belief that the House might find it difficult to muster a quorum.

Enrile and Nograles are meeting today to address the early canvassing of COCs.

No problem with Palace

At Malacañang, presidential spokesman Ricardo Saludo said Mrs. Arroyo is open to calling for a special session to speed up the canvassing, but only if Congress signifies its intention to hold one.

“So if Congress would like to call a special session then it can be considered by the Palace,” Saludo said.

Gullas said he has sent telegrams to the President, Enrile and Nograles to propose the holding of a special session to facilitate the canvassing of votes.

Saludo said a formal communication from Congress is very important.

“They have to tell us, they have to give an indication that they want this and they also have to give an indication that they are actually ready to start canvassing because they need some preparations there,” Saludo said.

“It’s not something like a normal session of Congress. It’s something that would need some study on the part of Congress as well as the Palace and also the affected candidates and their lawyers,” he added.

New senators

Meanwhile, the Comelec decides today if it can proclaim the winning senators tomorrow.

But Comelec Commissioner Gregorio Larrazabal said they would have to decide if they would proclaim all the 12 winners or just the top six.

“We will have session (today) and we’ll talk about that. We’ll see,” Larrazabal told reporters.

Lakas-Kampi-CMD’s Ramon Revilla Jr. had overtaken fellow actor-turned-politician Jinggoy Estrada for the top slot as of yesterday.

Based on 21.8 percent of the provincial certificates of canvass, Revilla got 11 million votes against Estrada’s 10.6 million votes.

During the canvassing last May 11 and 12, Estrada, of the Pwersa ng Masang Pilipino, was leading the polls.

The 12th or last slot is a tossup between Manuel Lapid of Lakas-Kampi and Ana Theresa Hontiveros-Baraquel of the LP.

In yesterday’s canvassing, Lapid dislodged Baraquel in the last slot with 6.1 million votes and 5.6 million votes, respectively.

While Lapid was an action star before he became governor of Pampanga, Baraquel was the representative of party-list group Akbayan in Congress. With Sheila Crisostomo, Marvin Sy, Christina Mendez