By Brian Campued
The Commission on Elections (Comelec), sitting as the National Board of Canvassers (NBOC), has finished the canvassing of votes for senators and party-list groups in the May 12 midterm elections on Thursday.
According to Comelec Chairperson George Erwin Garcia, the National Certificate of Canvass (NCOC) will be the basis for the proclamation of winning candidates for the senatorial and party-list races.
“Ang laging basehan ng proclamation ay ang canvass… sa batas natin, ang ginagawang basehan ay canvass, hindi po pinagbabasehan ’yong mga ibang issues na nasa baba,” Garcia said.
Based on the NCOC, the senatorial candidates who made it to the Top 12 are:
- Christopher ‘Bong’ Go – 27,121,073
- Bam Aquino – 20,971,899
- Ronald ‘Bato’ dela Rosa – 20,773,946
- Erwin Tulfo – 17,118,881
- Francis ‘Kiko’ Pangilinan – 15,343,229
- Rodante Marcoleta – 15,250,723
- Panfilo ‘Ping’ Lacson – 15,106,111
- Vicente ‘Tito’ Sotto III – 14,832,996
- Pia Cayetano – 14,573,430
- Camille Villar – 13,651,274
- Lito Lapid – 13,394,102
- Imee Marcos – 13,339,227
Meanwhile, the leading party-list organizations which received at least 2% of the total party-list votes are:
- Akbayan – 2,779,621
- Duterte Youth – 2,338,564
- Tingog – 1,822,708
- 4Ps – 1,469,571
- ACT-CIS – 1,239,930
- Ako Bicol – 1,073,119
The poll body, however, clarified that the tally released by NBOC is still subject to auditing.
Comelec also announced that a total of more than 57 million or 82.2% of the total registered Filipino voters have cast their votes for the 2025 national and local elections.
The percentage is the highest voter turnout for the country’s midterm elections so far, Garcia noted.
“This is the first time, again, in our history that we registered an 82.2% [voter] turnout—the highest in the midterm elections,” he said.
“And surely, therefore, it only means to say that the Filipino people have trusted the entire process—they wanted their votes [to] be counted and their [voices] be heard, and that’s very, very important,” the Comelec chief added. (with report from Louisa Erispe / PTV News)
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