Supporters of Makati Mayor Jejomar Binay dominated the gallery of the Batasan Pambansa on Wednesday, keeping watch over the joint committee canvassing the votes for president and vice president.
Binay’s fraternity brothers in the Alpha Phi Omega (APO) fraternity, wearing blue shirts, were easily the most obvious color in the gallery.
The second most noticeable were Binay supporters, wearing yellow, from another group.
Also sighted in the gallery were IT experts and non-House and non-Senate media covering the event, as well as legislative staff who conferred with lawmakers in attendance.
One Binay supporter said there were 100 of them wearing blue inside the session hall, as of around 5 pm. Binay supporters will take shifts in watching over the joint canvass proceedings.
Binay supporter Arlan Viray lamented that the proceedings have been very slow, noting no actual canvass has taken place yet, a few hours into the start of the joint committee’s session.
The joint committee is supposed to meet everyday, Mondays to Fridays, from 2 pm to 8 pm.
Non-canvass matters
On Wednesday, however, it began at 2:44 pm. And even after it began, it went on several breaks in its first hours for non-canvass-related administrative matters.
The first break at 2:55 pm was called to fix the sound system of the lower House after Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile complained he had difficulty hearing the statements of those speaking.
This was after Senate minority leader Aquilino Pimentel also complained and suggested that the invited resource persons from the Commission on Elections (Comelec), Smartmatic, and independent IT experts be given their own microphones, instead of having to share 2 microphones placed on 2 rostrums.
Pimentel said it takes time for each resource person to rise up and proceed to one rostrum to answer a question. Speaker Prospero Nograles assured the senators the situation was temporary, and changes to the sound system will be implemented as they go along.
More breaks stall canvassing
Minutes later during the break, pages scrambled to give more microphones to the resource persons.
The second break was called at 3:36 pm to allow candidates’ lawyers to take their places in the resource persons' panel as the secretariat entered their appearances into the record. The proceedings caused further delays.
A third break was called at 3:51 pm to allow lawmakers to personally peruse sample certificates of canvass for president and vice-president after questions were raised if there are separate Certificates of Canvass (COCs) for the 2 positions, contrary to the 2004 practice when votes for president and vice president were contained in 1 provincial COC.
A fourth break was called at 4:10 pm to allow Comelec executive director Jose Tolentino to retrieve which Comelec resolution provision authorized the preparation of several pages of documents to become the provincial certificate of canvass.
This stemmed from questions from senators and congressmen on why there appears to be 2 separate COCs for the 2 positions.
Meanwhile, also seen on the floor were congressmen and a senator who are non-members of the joint committee but are witnessing the proceedings.
Coffee, water, humidity
In an apparent indication of the length of the hearing, cups of coffee and bottles of mineral water were given to the lawmakers.
Blowers were also brought out to manage the increasingly humid temperature in the Session Hall. House senior deputy majority leader Neptali "Boyet" Gonzales was seen using some documents to fan himself.
Two widescreens were set up to help show people the documents being examined. Each lawmaker-canvasser was also provided with his own PC to see the results of the electronic canvassing.
Despite the heavy turnout of people in the proceedings, there were more people who were invited to the next working day of the committee, like members of the Parish Pastoral Council for Responsible Voting (PPCRV), and officials of telecommunications companies.
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