MANILA, Philippines - The Board of Canvassers for the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) elections resumed its session Tuesday in Manila, as more municipalities in the ARMM region have transmitted their respective election results.
As of 10 a.m., 99 percent of municipalities in Maguindanao province have transmitted their election results to the ARMM BOC; Shariff Kabunsuan, 91 percent; Basilan, 69.32 percent; Lanao del Sur, 52 percent; Tawi-Tawi, 39 percent; and Sulu, 26.9 percent.
Lawyer Romulo Macalintal, counsel for administration gubernatorial candidate Zaldy Ampatuan, said Tuesday that with the pace of the transmission of election results, he expects the final tally by the ARMM BOC to be in by Wednesday.
"I believe the winning candidates for the position of assemblymen will be proclaimed Tuesday afternoon. The Comelec should be congratulated for the fast transmission of results amid the problems in the peace and order situation in some parts of Mindanao," Macalintal said.
Macalintal said he expects Ampatuan to win the gubernatorial race despite the fact that he is yet to know total number of votes received by his client.
"Wala naman siyang mahigpit na kalaban. Mamayang gabi baka andito na siya (He has no rival. I believe he would arrive in Manila later in the day)," Macalintal said.
There are seven (7) candidates for regional governor in this year's ARMM elections.
They are Jupakar Pindah-Asia Arabani, Ismail Berto Ibrahim, Ahmad Darping Nooh, Zaldy Puti Uy Ampatuan, Alvarez Silal Isnaji, Guimid Panalangin Matalam and Ali Jumadil Omar.
On Monday evening, the Comelec said it would not be releasing partial results of the ARMM polls to "avoid trending."
"We don't release partial results as a matter of policy. We want to avoid any appearance of trending," Comelec spokesperson James Jimenez said.
Jimenez said Maguindanao was fast in transmitting its results as it used the DRE or Direct Recording Electronic by technology provider Smartmatic-Sahi Joint Venture.
DRE uses touch-screen technology wherein the voter would simply press the part of the screen containing the candidate's name.
Smarmatic-Sahi is also tasked to handle the transmission and canvassing of votes in the whole ARMM.
The other technology, Optical Mark Reader (OMR) of Avante International Technology Inc., was used in Basilan, Lanao del Sur, Shariff Kabunsuan, Sulu and Tawi-tawi. OMR uses a ballot system. The ballot contains the candidates' names and the voter simply shades the space corresponding to the chosen candidate.
The BOC had said that it expects to proclaim the winning gubernatorial and vice-gubernatorial candidates by Wednesday. The winning regional assemblymen will be proclaimed in their respective provinces.
The ARMM has a total of 1,516,775 registered voters. - GMANews.TV