Filipino voters have less than one month left to assess who they will pick to lead them for the next six years.

After the casting of ballots on May 9, what happens next before the new president and vice president are proclaimed?

The installation of the country’s top two officials has to undergo a thorough process – from the transmission of certificates of canvass to Congress to the counting of votes by lawmakers, to the proclamation of the president-elect and vice president-elect upon the completion of the canvass of votes.

Under Batasang Pambansa 881 or the Omnibus Election Code (OEC) of the Philippines, the certificates of canvass that will be transmitted to Congress must be duly certified by the Board of Canvassers (BOC) of each province, city or district.

The Senate and the House of Representatives, sitting as the National Board of Canvassers (NBOC), will convene for a joint public session for the canvassing of votes.

In the event Congress finds the certificate of canvass incomplete, the BOC involved, within two days from receipt of the notice, is required to personally deliver to the Batasang Pambansa the election returns from polling places that were excluded in the certificate of canvass and supporting statements.

Each political party or independent candidate is permitted to designate one watcher in every polling place.

The watchers, according to OEC, are allowed to “take notes of what they may see or hear” and “take photographs of the proceedings of the board of election inspectors and incidents, if any, during the counting of votes, as well as of election returns, tally boards and ballot boxes”.

Poll watchers may also file a protest against any irregularity or violation of law which they believe may have been committed by the board of election inspectors or other persons.

Watchers are entitled to obtain from the board of election inspectors a certificate as to the filing of protest or of the resolution, as well as to read the ballots after being read by the chairman, and the election results completed and signed by the board of election inspectors.

For certificate of canvass with erasures or altercations that may cast doubt on the veracity of the number of votes and may affect the poll results, the concerned presidential or vice presidential candidate may ask Congress to count the votes as they appear in the copies of the election returns.

In case two or more candidates for president or vice president share an equal number of votes, the winner will be chosen by a majority vote of all members of Congress in a special session.

The proclamation of the two top officials can also be made, even if there are certificates of canvass that have not been submitted on account of missing election returns, so long as it will no longer affect the results.

“Proclamation shall be made only upon submission of all certificates of canvass or when the missing certificates of canvass will not affect the results of the election,” according to Article 2, Section 20 of the OEC.

The president-elect and the vice president-elect will assume office by 12 noon on June 30.

The president will serve a term of six years, with no provision for re-election.

The vice president may be appointed to the Cabinet in a concurrent capacity and may seek re-election after six years.

Ten candidates are vying to succeed President Rodrigo Duterte, including incumbent Vice President Leni Robredo.

Among the vice presidential hopefuls are Duterte’s daughter, Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte-Carpio.

Voters will also elect 12 senators and a party-list.

A congressman, a mayor, a vice mayor, members of the local council, and provinces, governor and vice governor, and members of the provincial board will be elected at the local level. (PNA)

The House of Representatives Electoral Tribunal (HRET) has dismissed the election protest filed by Lalaine Villafuerte-Abonal that aims to unseat incumbent Congressman Gabriel H. Bordado Jr. as representative of the 3rd district of Camarines Sur.

The decision was promulgated March 17 this year and was received by Bordado’s lawyers on Monday, April 4.

It should be recalled that right after the filing of protest by Villafuerte-Abonal on Sept. 17, 2021, a report on social media said that “Bordado should not stay a minute longer as a legislator in the Batasan Complex as he is not the one and true occupant of the seat reserved for the 3rd District of Camarines Sur, considering that he did not actually win in the 2019 race.”

In dismissing the protest, the HRET, which is chaired by Supreme Court Associate Justice Marvic Mario Victor F. Leonen, said that Villafuerte-Abonal does not possess the status required to legally represent her father, the late former Congressman Luis R. Villafuerte, in the protest

In an 8-page resolution, the Tribunal said: “The right to a public office is personal and exclusive to the public officer and is not a property transmissible to his heirs upon death.”

It further said that if the heirs of a public officer cannot legally represent him when he dies, who may do so? For congressional candidates, they are the candidates who obtained the second or third highest number of votes in the congressional elections.

They are the real parties in interest concerning an on-going contest, for if the declared winner had not been truly voted upon by the electorate, the second or the third placers would be the legitimate beneficiary in a successful election contest.

“Thus, the legal representative intended by the Rules of Court to substitute a deceased party to an election protest still pending under Rule 3, Section 16 is one who is a real party in interest or the party who would be benefitted or injured by the judgment, and the party who is entitled to the avails of the suit,” the Tribunal said.

It emphasized that Villafuerte-Abonal evidently cannot qualify to be a legal representative of his departed father on the following grounds:

1. Even if she is an heir of protestant, she is not allowed to hold public office in her father’s place for the same is a personal right;

2. She is not a real party in interest for she admits that she did not participate in the 2019 congressional elections;

3. On her allegation that Rule 17 of the 2015 HRET Rules merely applies to the initial filing of a verified election protest before the Tribunal with paragraph 2 thereof identifying only those who may file a protest, namely, the second and third placers, she failed to see that said Rule was, in fact, a determination of who are the real parties in interest to a protest and thus, may legally substitute a deceased party;

4. She has a layman’s concept of what a legal representative means when, in fact, the terms “to legally represent protestant” actually means to substitute for him and take his place, including his right to office. The fact that she has no intention to assume public office in place of his father as protestant only highlights that she is not a legitimate beneficiary if the protest is successful, and;

5. Contrary to her allegation that protestee misquoted or misread the jurisprudence cited, the Tribunal finds that it is Villafuerte-Abonal, through her counsel, who actually committed the same.

The Tribunal, in its resolution, grants Bordado’s Motion to Dismiss Election Protest dated Jan. 11, 2022 and ruled that the instant Verified Election Protest under the Automated Election System is dismissed, and decreed that all the proceedings pending in the case are terminated.