90 percent of CoC now in Senate

More than a week after Filipinos cast their votes, the delivery of Certificates of Canvass (CoC) containing votes for president and vice president to the Senate is now nearing completion.

The Senate of the Philippines has received 90.17 percent or 156 of the total 173 CoC, as of 11:53 p.m., Thursday, according to the Senate Public Relations and Information Bureau.

The latest CoC and Election Returns (ER) transmitted to the upper chamber were from Sulu Province, as well as those from overseas absentee voting held in Washington, USA; Australia; Denmark; Riyadh, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia; Switzerland; and Brunei.

The Senate is expected to transfer the CoC and ER to the House of Representatives at dawn on Monday, where both houses of Congress are set to convene in a joint session to tally the votes for president and vice president.

Earlier, Senate President Vicente “Tito” Sotto III said that both houses of Congress are eyeing to finish the canvassing of votes by the end of May.

Sotto added that the winning president and vice president in the recently concluded election will be proclaimed on 26 May.

Based on the unofficial tally from the Commission on Elections, former senator Ferdinand Marcos Jr. and running mate Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte-Carpio lead the presidential and vice president races, respectively.