Congress should prepare for vote canvass for President, VP

The Senate and House of Representatives should already prepare for the canvassing of votes for president and vice president, according to House Deputy Speaker Rufus Rodriguez. 

He urged Congress to immediately coordinate with the Commission on Elections (COMELEC) for the expeditious transmission of certificates of canvass from provinces and independent cities to Congress. 

“For the sake of transparency, a receiving transmission should be installed in the House so Congress would have an advance electronic copy of the election results,” the representative of Cagayan de Oro’s second district said. 

Rodriguez said there should be a mechanism for expediting the sending of provincial and city results to Congress in case of any delay. 

Rodriguez stressed that the House and the Senate have only 12 days, including one weekend, to finish the vote tabulation and declare the winning presidential and vice presidential candidates. 

“We hope we could complete the canvass and declare the winners within that short period,” he said. 

Rodriguez said the session of Congress as a canvassing body is to be presided over by the Speaker of the House and the Senate President. 

Since Senate President Vicente Sotto III is a candidate for vice president, Rodriguez said, “we leave it to his sound discretion and judgment on what to do.” 

House Secretary General Mark Llandro Mendoza said the lower chamber will start preparing for the board of canvassing as soon as Congress reconvenes on May 23. 

“Yes, actually sa 23 ang start sa pag-resume ng session, sa May 23 start natin. Everything is systems go naman, in coordination tayo with Senate and the COMELEC,” said Mendoza. start 

Should a Covid-19 surge occur in the middle of canvassing, Mendoza said: “May back up plan naman tayo na ginagawa for that, meantime, mag-base rin tayo sa safety na ilalabas ng IATF, then the guidelines regarding that. Pero, definitely open ’yan lahat sa public, sa media and observers natin, open ’yung canvassing.” 

Mendoza also said the heads of the two chambers of Congress along with members of the media and COMELEC will be present in the afternoon of May 9.