Some candidates could not yet breathe a sigh of relief until they are officially proclaimed by the Commission on Elections.
Lawyer Krisna Caballero, the Comelec XI spokesperson, said the next step after election canvassing will be the random manual audit (RMA) and the submission of statement of contributions and expenses (SOCE) for the candidates.
The Comelec has already identified 10 clustered precincts in Davao City–four in the first district, three in the second district and third district. The auditing is set to begin on May 15.
“The randomly selected precincts will be pulled out and sent to Manila for the manual audit,” Caballero said on Tuesday.
The Comelec RMA committee held a random selection last Monday in the selected cities and municipalities to be included in the auditing, followed by a random selection of precincts the next day.
As explained by Comelec RMA head, Luie Tito Guia, the auditing is required by law wherein precinct results will be manually counted to compare it with the automated count.
Caballero said winning and losing candidates, or even those who withdrew their candidacy are required to file their SOCE until June 12, 2019.
She also said that the reported vote buying incidents and other election violations by the local candidates “will be acted upon.”
However, they have yet to review the cases because that’s not their priority for now. However, Caballero said the alleged election violations are properly documented and the Comelec can go over these when the time comes.
