Lawmakers laud orderly polls, vow speedy canvass

MANILA, Philippines — Lawmakers yesterday lauded the orderly and peaceful conduct of the national and local elections last Monday and vowed the speedy canvass of votes later this month.

Re-elected Camarines Sur Rep. LRay Villafuerte lauded the Commission on Elections (Comelec) for the speedy transmittal of voting results that has buttressed the credibility of the presidential election that made presumptive president Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. the first-ever post-EDSA candidate who has won by a clear majority of votes.

“While there were isolated cases of poll day hitches, the conduct of this year’s national and local elections was generally faster and more efficient than in past computerized polls, leading to a highly credible balloting that has settled without doubt the victory of a presidential candidate who a majority of Filipino voters want to lead our country back to its path of high and inclusive growth, following the double whammy of the COVID-19 pandemic and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine,” Villafuerte said in a statement.

“The generally peaceful and orderly elections plus the subsequent speedy transmittal of the voting results have helped prop up the resounding win of presidential candidate Ferdinand ‘Bongbong’ Marcos Jr. (BBM) who has won by an unprecedented 31 million-plus votes or an overwhelming lead of at least 16 million votes over his rivals for the presidency,” he added.

The former deputy speaker also appealed for national unity following the highly polarized elections and called on all Filipinos to rally behind Marcos, “who is the clear choice of a majority of our voters.”

“All of us have more reason to support the next Philippine leader, given that he is apparently the first contender in a post-EDSA presidential contest who has won by a clear majority of those who had actually voted. In contrast, all past post-EDSA presidents only won by a plurality of the votes cast,” Villafuerte said.

“With his key pronouncements during the presidential campaign season, I am confident that BBM will genuinely pursue a political and economic agenda that will restore us to the path of high and inclusive growth after it stumbled across speed bumps over the past two years as a result of the once-in-a-century pandemic and, later, the Russia-Ukraine conflict,” he added.

As this developed, the House leadership has vowed the quick and efficient canvassing of votes by Congress sitting as the National Board of Canvassers.

Speaker Lord Allan Velasco said they would perform “our constitutional mandate to receive and canvass the votes for the two highest leaders of our country, our next president and vice president.”

Velasco added that they plan to start the canvass on May 24 until May 27 or 28 at the latest.

“It’s possible that we start on the 24th and it looks promising that we will be able to proclaim by May 27 or May 28 at the latest,” he told reporters at a press conference last Monday afternoon during the initialization of the consolidation and canvassing system (CCS) machine that would be used for the official counting of votes.

The Marinduque representative revealed that the proclamation could even be held at an earlier date, depending on the developments during the canvassing.

“If could be earlier – if there are not so many questions raised. Anyway, this is already computerized and automated, so we do not foresee any problem,” he said.