Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte has the Senate. The ongoing tally of yesterday’s midterm elections shows that a majority of those likely to win the 12 available national Senate seats are allied with the controversial head of state. This includes Cynthia Villar, who is currently number one in the polls, based on partial, unofficial results aggregated from the Commission on Elections (COMELEC) data as of 9:16am today. She currently has 24,299,170 votes based on 93.91 percent of Election Returns, a report generated by vote-counting machines in polling precincts that show the counts for national and local elections. Duterte campaigned for Villar, who is a part of the Hugpong ng Pagbabago (HNP) alliance formed by first daughter and Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte-Carpio. Senatorial candidates currently in the top 14 include: Cynthia Villar Grace Poe Bong Go Pia Cayetano Bato de la Rosa Sonny Angara Lito Lapid Imee Marcos Francis Tolentino Koko Pimentel Bong Revilla Nancy Binay JV Ejercito Bam Aquino Of the 14, 10 candidates are part of HNP. At the bottom of the list is Aquino, the only member of the opposition Liberal Party to rank in the top 14. Controversial figures likely to join the Senate are Imee Marcos, daughter of the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos; former police chief Bato de la Rosa, who launched the war on drugs; Duterte’s former aide Bong Go; and former Senator Bong Revilla, who was accused of stealing taxpayers’ money in the pork barrel scandal of 2013. With a landslide by the Duterte camp likely in this year’s polls, the president will soon have influence over all branches of the government. Of the 12 incumbent senators who did not have to run for re-election and will retain their seats until the next presidential elections in 2022, at least three openly support Duterte. This makes the majority of the Upper House Duterte allies now. Duterte gained control of the House of Representatives and the military soon after he became president in 2016. The ouster of Duterte critic and then-Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno last year was also seen as a way of gaining control of the Supreme Court (SC). Of the 14 SC justices today, seven were appointed by Duterte. The results from yesterday’s polls indicate that it’s about to get even easier for Duterte to execute his plans for the country, which include continuing the deadly drug war that has killed thousands, bringing back the death penalty, and changing the constitution. This article, Duterte allies win big in 2019 Philippine Senate race , originally appeared on Coconuts, Asia's leading alternative media company. Want more Coconuts? Sign up for our newsletters!<doc-sep>MANILA, Philippines — A tight race looms for the last three slots in the so-called Magic 12 of the senatorial elections, as shown by the latest Parish Pastoral Council for Responsible Voting (PPCRV) tally on its transparency server. In a PPCRV update on Tuesday morning, re-electionist Sen. Nancy Binay was at 10th place with 13,785,323 votes, while Sen. Aquilino “Koko” Pimentel III, or a total of 13,784,052, trailed her by a mere 1,271 votes. ADVERTISEMENT At 12th place was former Sen. Ramon “Bong” Revilla Jr. with 13,729,911 votes — or 54,141 shy of Pimentel, while Sen. JV Ejercito is at the 13th spot with 13,541,625. He trailed Revilla by 188,286 votes. Sen. Bam Aquino, meanwhile, occupied the 14th slot, with 13,431,959 votes. Thes figures came from the second update after the Commission on Elections (Comelec) failed to transmit the tally of votes to the transparency server, mainly because of glitches. Earlier, it was reported that Sen. Nancy Villar was leading the race, followed by Sen. Grace Poe, former special presidential assistant Christopher “Bong” Go, Taguig Rep. Pia Cayetano, former Bureau of Corrections chief Ronald dela Rosa, Sen. Sonny Angara, former Sen. Lito Lapid, Ilocos Norte Gov. Imee Marcos, and former presidential political assistant Francis Tolentino. RELATED Villar leads Senate race – PPCRV partial unofficial results Comelec transparency server glitch delays release of partial poll results 80% of poll results are in, no issue with transmission – Jimenez (Editors: Alexander T. Magno, Abe Cerojano) Read Next<doc-sep>Are you sure you want to log out? X Login Philstar.com is one of the most vibrant, opinionated, discerning communities of readers on cyberspace. With your meaningful insights, help shape the stories that can shape the country. Sign up now! E-mail Address: Password REMEMBER ME FORGOT PASSWORD? SIGN IN or sign in with New user? CLICK HERE TO REGISTER<doc-sep>MANILA, Philippines — The Commission on Elections, formally constituted as the members of the National Board of Canvassers, on Monday afternoon suspended their session as they await the transmission of election results. The seven-member Comelec en banc composed of poll body's chair Sheriff Abas, Commissioners Al Parreno, Luie Tito Guia, Ma. Rowena Amelia Guanzon, Socorro Inting, Marlon Casquejo and Antonio Kho Jr. convened as NBOC at the Philippine International Convention Center to mark the start of canvassing of votes for the 2019 midterm elections. They were supposed to convene at 3 p.m. but they officially sat as NBOC at around 4 p.m., just two hours before the polling precinct closed its doors to voters. “Today, May 13, 2019, marks yet another milestone in our history as we usher the new set of leaders will impact the lives of the Filipinos,” Abas said in his opening speech. “An election is the single manifestation of the nation's democracy,” he added. Abas said the success of the 2019 midterm polls cannot be solely credited to the Comelec as he also recognized the efforts and contributions of every sector to ensure honest and orderly elections. Aside from the NBOC members, representatives of political parties, partylist and other candidates were also present at the NBOC command center to witness the canvassing of votes in the national elections. The NBOC initialized the canvassing and consolidation system before the session was suspended at 5:15 p.m. Guia earlier mentioned that the session may be adjourned since the poll results is expected to be transmitted after the voting hours. The midterm elections are set to end at 6 p.m. The NBOC session will resume on Tuesday. RELATED: No need to extend midterm polls, says Comelec<doc-sep>
Updated at 7:20 a.m., May 14, 2019, to reflect the latest tally Originally posted at 5:58 a.m., May 14, 2019 ADVERTISEMENT MANILA, Philippines — Senator Cynthia Villar remained on top of the unofficial and partial senatorial race tally on Tuesday, hours after the voting precincts closed at 6 p.m. on Monday, according to the Parish Pastoral Council for Responsible Voting (PPCRV) transparency server. If no major shake-up happens in the remaining 6,244 polling precincts, then eight of the 12 winning candidates — including Villar — would be candidates endorsed by the Partido Demokratiko Pilipino-Lakas ng Bayan (PDP-Laban, the party of President Rodrigo Duterte, and the Hugpong ng Pagbabago (HnP), the regional party set up by presidential daughter and Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte-Carpio. Besides Villar, other pro-administration bets who have made it so far to the Magic 12 are former special presidential assistant Christopher “Bong” Go, Taguig Rep. Pia Cayetano, former Bureau of Corrections chief Ronald dela Rosa, Sen. Sonny Angara, Ilocos Norte Gov. Imee Marcos, former presidential political adviser Francis Tolentino, and Sen. Aquilino “Koko” Pimentel III. HNP endorsed another candidate, former Sen. Ramon “Bong” Revilla Jr., who is not, however, part of the President’s line-up. As of 5:48 a.m. Tuesday, Villar was still leading with 24,139,134 votes, followed by: Grace Poe (21,122,345) Bong Go (19,535,952) Pia Cayetano (18,877,343) Ronald dela Rosa (17,964,775) ADVERTISEMENT Sonny Angara (17,365,309) Lito Lapid (16,215,644) Imee Marcos (15,159,699) Francis Tolentino (14,728,081) Koko Pimentel (13,943,067) Nancy Binay (13,925,364) Bong Revilla (13,909,105) Voter turnout was 70 percent — that is, 44,822,648 voted out of 63,662,481 registered voters. These results came from 92.89 percent of the transmittals — that is, 81,607 out of 87,851 vote counting machines Race for last slots In the race for the last three spots, Revilla padded his lead over 13th placer JV Ejercito, getting ahead by 229,208 votes, from 209,663 as of 3:45 a.m. Revilla also trimmed Binay’s lead from 36,353 to 16,259. Pimentel maintained his hold at the 10th spot, leading Binay by 17,703 votes. RELATED PPCRV tally shows tight race for last 3 Senate seats Revilla slightly widens lead over Ejercito in battle for last Senate seat Villar leads Senate race – PPCRV partial unofficial results Read Next