MANILA, Philippines – With the senatorial elections over, the final score is 9-3 in favor of the administration-backed Team PNoy coalition.
The nine are Grace Poe, Loren Legarda, Alan Cayetano, Francis “Chiz” Escudero, Juan Edgardo “Sonny” Angara, Paolo Benigno “Bam” Aquino IV, Aquilino “Koko” Pimentel III, Antonio Trillanes IV and Cynthia Villar.
The remaining three are from the United Nationalist Alliance (UNA) – Nancy Binay, Joseph Victor “JV” Ejercito Estrada, and Gregorio “Gringo” Honasan.
The winners were proclaimed in three groups by the Commission on Elections, sitting as the National Board of Canvassers (NBOC), starting Tuesday at the Philippine International Convention Center, which housed the second automated polls. The first was in the 2010 presidential elections.
Five in the top six – Poe, Legarda, Cayetano, Escudero, and Angara – were proclaimed Thursday; Aquino, Friday; the rest this Saturday.
Binay was a no-show Thursday while Pimentel and Trillanes Friday. On Saturday, only Trillanes was absent from the proclamation that has been criticized as being too early since only 129 of the 301 CoCs have been canvassed as of posting time.
But the Comelec said that the remaining CoCs numbering about 150,000 votes would no longer affect the results of the senatorial elections.