By CARMELA FONBUENA
abs-cbnNEWS.com/Newsbreak
The Commission on Elections (Comelec) made history Wednesday by releasing the "first electronically-printed certificates of canvass (COC)" showing the results of the elections in three of the six provinces of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM).
The copy of the COC provided to the media showed that reelectionist ARMM Gov. Zaldy Ampatuan led his opponents by a wide margin, getting 381,016 votes or 88.75 percent of the total votes. Seven candidates opposed Ampatuan in the position.
The second placer, Alvarez Isnaji, got only 15,284 or 3.56 percent of the total votes.
There are over 700,00 registered voters in the three provinces. It's half of the 1.5 million total registered voters in ARMM.
Comelec spokesman James Jimenez told reporters that the winning gubernatorial and vice-gubernatorial candidates will be proclaimed before 5 p.m. today.
Winning Assemblymen
Six winning assemblymen in Shariff Kabunsuan and Tawi-Tawi were proclaimed on Tuesday. Jimenez said Basilan has scheduled the proclamation of its winner at 1 p.m. today.
As of posting time, abs-cbnNEWS.com/Newsbreak could not get reports from the Comelec main office in Manila about the status of the canvassing in Maguindanao and Lanao del Sur. Three assemblymen are elected in each district. There are two districts in Lanao del Sur and Sulu.
Asked what happened in Maguindanao, which was originally expected to transmit the earliest completed results, Jimenez said, "I don’t know what happened there."
Maguindanao used the Direct Recording Equipment (DRE), which automated the entire election process from voting, transmission, counting, and canvassing.
As of 11 a.m. on Tuesday, Comelec reported that the province has transmitted 99.3 percent of the results. The counting machines will only print certificates of canvass once the counting is completed 100 percent.
Here is the list of the winning assemblymen in Shariff Kabunsuan and Tawi-Tawi.
Shariff Kabunsuan
1. Sinsuat, Ronnie Quesada (Lakas-CMD)
2. Ibay, Cahar Pendat (Kampi)
3. Tomawis, Abdulradzak Dagalangin (Kampi)
Tawi-Tawi
1. Sahali, Rejie Maquiso (Lakas-CMD)
2. Omas, Mustapha Joe (Independent)
3. Ahaja, Nur Mahadil Kingking (Independent)