Noynoy, Binay keep leads in Comelec tally

Sen. Benigno "Noynoy" Aquino III and Makati City Mayor Jejomar Binay were still leading in the Commission on Elections (Comelec) partial tally issued Wednesday morning.

As of 9:05 a.m., Aquino was still ahead of former President Joseph Estrada in the presidential elections by at around 5 million votes while Binay remains on top of the vice-presidential race with a lead of around 800,000.

In an interview on dzMM Wednesday morning, Pulse Asia President Ronald Holmes said Aquino has already won the presidential elections, but it still needs to be affirmed by Congress.

Congress will convene at the end of May to canvass the returns and officially proclaim the winners for president and vice-president.

"Tapos na ang boksing. Ang ano [kulang] na lang ay ang mga judge sa Kongreso dahil sila ang nagpu-proclaim," Holmes said.

However, in the vice-presidential elections, Holmes said it is still too close to call since not all votes from the various precincts have been counted.

Based on exit polls, he said it was possible that Binay would win by around half a million votes. However, he said Roxas could still end up the winner by less than 500,000 votes.

President

Benigno "Noynoy" Aquino III - 13,592,809
Joseph Ejercito Estrada - 8,616,212
Manuel "Manny" Villar - 4,919,314
Gilberto Teodoro Jr. - 3,624,820

Eddie Villanueva - 1,010,756
Richard Gordon - 461,997
Nicanor Perlas - 48,336
Jamby Madrigal - 41,520
John Carlos "JC" de los Reyes - 39,521

Vice President

Jejomar Binay - 13,265,759
Manuel "Mar"Roxas - 12,473,633
Loren Legarda - 3,726,317

Bayani Fernando - 926,037
Edu Manzano - 696,156
Perfecto Yasay - 326,538
Jay Sonza - 56,866
Dominador Chipeco - 46,743

Comelec commissioners resumed the canvassing of votes from the senatorial race down to the local level at 11 a.m. Wednesday.

The Parish Pastoral Council for Responsible Voting (PPCRV) also issued results of its partial tally as of 9:05 a.m. Wednesday with the same results.

A radio dzMM report said that the PPCRV has been informed by Smartmatic Asia Pacific President Cesar Flores that Comelec has received electronic votes sent by at least 96% of all 76,475 Precinct Count Optical Scan machines deployed around the country for the May 10 elections.