Sen. Ferdinang Marcos Jr. is currently leading in the Vice Presidential race against Rep. Leni Robredo in the second day of official canvass by the joint session of the House of Representatives and the Philippine Senate. Sen. Bongbong Marcos led by fewer than 100,000 votes in the partial, official count as of 9:55 PM on the second day of canvassing.
Based upon the official tally of the National Board of Canvassers, at the end of the canvassing Sen. Bongbong Marcos had a lead of 83,480 over Rep. Leni Robredo. The senator from Ilocos Norte, Sen. Marcos had 13,214,810 votes while Robredo had 13,131,330 votes.
At one point during the canvassing, Marcos’ lead jumped to more than 2 million votes, especially after the canvassing of many of the certificates of canvass (COCs) from provinces in northern Luzon, including Ilocos Sur and Ilocos Norte, which are known bailiwicks of his family, were all recorded by the Senators and the Representatives of the Lower House.
Rep. Leni Robredo was able to whittle down Sen. Bongbong Marcos’ lead after the COC from Camarines Sur, Eastern Samar, Cebu, Negros Occidental, Samar, and Agusan del Sur were all counted. The canvassing committee has counted 113 COCs so far— 45 on Wednesday, and 68 on Thursday.
Four COCs—Iloilo, Antique, Canada, and Kuwait— were suspended and a total of 165 COCs were already counted by the joint members of both the Senate and House of Representatives.
During the national official results of the National Board of Canvassers, the camp of Sen. Marcos repeatedly raised the matter of undervoting in the Vice Presidential election on the second day of canvassing.