If no vice president is proclaimed together with apparent President-elect Benigno Simeon “Noynoy” C. Aquino III Tuesday, the winner of the vice presidential race may have to wait until the next Congress convenes in joint session next month to be sworn in.

This was the danger posed Sunday by noted election lawyer Romulo Macalintal if due course is given to an appeal by the Aquino-Roxas Bantay Balota (ARBB) to conduct a random manual audit (RMA) of election returns in the vice presidential race.

ARBB Deputy National Coordinator Joey Tenefrancia said an RMA is the remaining option to confirm the validity of the decision of the Commission on Elections (Comelec) to 2.6 million votes cast for the vice-presidential race.

The ARBB appeal is aimed at protecting the votes for vice presidential candidate Sen. Manuel Roxas II as he stands in a neck-and-neck battle with PDP-Laban candidate Mayor Jejomar Binay.

On Thursday, the Liberal Party (LP) announced that it would urge the National Board of Canvassers (NBoC) to first look into the questionable and fraudulent election returns from Maguindanao and Lanao del Sur before pushing through with the canvassing.

The LP said the move would ensure that there would be no disenfranchised voters, whose votes have already been declared null or those that are not counted due to the lowering of the canvassing threshold.

“If this would take only about one week, why not do it for the benefit of the millions of votes discarded by the Comelec? If we don’t do this now, we will never know the real voice of the people,” Tenefrancia said.

But Macalintal pointed out that such a move could prevent the joint panel from simultaneously proclaiming the winning president and vice president.

Macalintal sees a danger in such move because it would require the re-convening of both Houses of Congress which may have difficulty in constituting quorum.

Macalintal said under such situation, the winning vice president will have to wait until the 15th Congress is convened next month.

“Likewise to proclaim the president without the votes from the four CoCs will technically disenfranchise the voters in this areas whose votes should be included in the canvass. CoCs could only be set aside or may not be included if they are lost, destroyed or not available for canvass which is not the case here since the CoCs are with the committee waiting to be canvassed,” Macalintal said.

Actually, there are five CoCs containing an aggregate vote of at least 1.4 million that are awaiting tabulation.

Citing Paragraph 4, Section 3, Article VII of the Constitution, Macalintal said the law mandates that the certificates of canvass containing the votes for President and Vice President shall be canvassed by Congress in joint session and the person having the highest number of votes shall be proclaimed elected.

For purposes of canvassing the votes for the candidates for President and Vice President in the last election, the Senate and the House of Representatives created a Joint Committee which will submit its report to members of the Senate and the House of Representatives to proclaim the candidates who obtained the highest number of votes.

If the report and recommendation would pertain only to the proclamation of the winning President but not include the winning Vice President, Macalintal said there would still be a need to reconvene the present Congress once it finalizes its report on the canvass of votes of the winning Vice President.

“The present Congress could only do it before June 30, 2010, which is the expiration of the term of some senators and all the incumbent members of the House of Representatives,” Macalintal said.

And since most senators and congressmen of the present Congress had already finished their respective terms of office, there may be a problem with quorum.

“If this happens, the winning Vice-President has to wait for the new Congress which will open in July 26 of this year to convene as a board of canvassers to continue and complete the canvass of votes for vice-president which was not completed by the present Congress,” Macalintal said.

“Thus, the imperative need for the present Congress to proclaim the winning Vice-President together with the winning President,” he said.

With five more certificates of canvass (CoCs) to be counted Monday, the Joint Congressional Canvassing Committee has decided to move the proclamation of the next president and vice president Tuesday at the earliest.

House Majority Leader Arthur Defensor said that although the joint panel is determined to fast-track the canvass proceedings and is inclined to shun moves that would delay the termination of the count, there is little chance a proclamation can be conducted Monday.

Defensor explained that the committee and its secretariat may not be able to finish Monday the committee report and resolution of declaring the results of the canvass.

He added that a proclamation, likewise, requires the reconvening of the joint session of the Senate and the House to pave the way for voting on the report and resolution.

Aside from the tabulation of election results from CoCs coming from Bacolod City, Davao City, Mt. Province, Eastern Samar and Lanao del Sur, the canvassing panel jointly chaired by Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile and Speaker Prospero Nograles may also be asked to rule on an appeal by the Aquino-Roxas Bantay Balota to conduct a random manual audit of returns.

Meanwhile, the camp of former President Joseph “Erap” Estrada reminded that the joint committees must take its time in canvassing and confirming the authenticity of votes from the remaining five CoCs.

The Pwersa ng Masang Pilipino (PMP) urged legislators not to rush its canvassing of about 1.4 million untallied votes coming from the cities of Davao and Bacolod as well as the provinces of Lanao del Sur, Eastern Samar, and Mountain Province.

“It is still uncertain if what we have are simply computer-generated leaders. We sincerely hope that the issues raised be further looked into before any proclamation is made. We still have time,” PMP spokesperson Ralph Calinisan told Manila Bulletin.

Defensor said invitations will be sent to the winning candidates to attend Tuesday’s proclamation which will follow the approval of the joint committee report and resolution of canvassing and proclamation.

However, the House official said acceding to the invitation is not mandatory for the president-elect and vice president elect.

Following an executive session last Friday, the 18-man panel of lawmakers decided to defer the tabulation of the five CoCs Monday, thereby threatening to offset the planned proclamation of winning
candidates on the same day.

Senate Majority Leader Juan Miguel Zubiri moved to adjourn at 9:10 p.m. on Friday as he noted that the number of votes to be counted could still materially affect the result of the vice presidential race being tightly contested by Makati City Mayor Jejomar Binay of the Pwersa ng Masang Pilipino and Roxas, runningmate of presidential frontrunner Sen. Benigno Aquino III.

Binay led Roxas by getting 14,084,876 votes against the LP bet’s 13,440,127 votes. The Makati mayor’s margin of 644,749 was not considered by the joint panel as insurmountable.

Although Aquino led closest rival, ex-President Joseph Estrada, by 5,515,977 votes before the adjournment, the joint panel rejected a motion by lawyer Jose Cadiz, counsel for Aquino, to proclaim his client as the winner in the presidential derby.

Aquino tallied 14,641,803 votes against Estrada’s 9,125,823 last Friday.

NOYNOY WANTS SISTERS AT HIS PROCLAMATION

Presumptive President-elect Benigno Simeon “Noynoy” C. Aquino III has invited his sisters to join him during his proclamation as the country’s next Chief Executive before the joint session of Congress set Tuesday.

Aquino and his sisters Ballsy Aquino-Cruz, Pinky Aquino-Abellada, Viel Aquino-Dee and actress-host Kris Aquino-Yap were to have lunch Sunday for the birthday celebration of Kris' son Joshua who turned 15 last June 4.

“He’s 15. Sagot ko yata yung lunch bukas (Sunday), kaming magkakapatid,” Aquino said in an interview with GMA7 on Saturday.

Aquino declined to comment on his plans for his impending proclamation but revealed that he would wear a simple working “Barong Tagalog” for the proceedings.

“Ayoko namang maging presumptive, eh… This week dapat, naging Monday, naging Tuesday. At the very latest, sana naman by the 15th tapos na yung proseso (I don’t want to be presumptive. It was supposed to be this week; then Monday; then Tuesday. At the very latest, I hope that by the 15th [of June] the process is done),” he said of his proclamation as the president-elect in the May 10 automated polls.

The senator also said he would have to consult his “fashion consultant” – his sister Kris, as well as her famous Filipino designer friends JC Buendia and Paul Cabral on what he would be wearing for his inauguration.

“Magkikita kami bukas nung kapatid kong aking fashion consultant (Kris) at saka si JC Buendia at saka Paul Cabral. Baka sila rin may mga comments. Dahil pangalan nila ang nakataya sa mga barong na sinusuot natin,” Aquino said, chuckling.

Kris had earlier praised her brother for being so modest even with the clothes he wears – a trait he could have inherited from their mother, the late President Corazon C. Aquino, who is known for her simplicity. (With a report from Rio Rose Ribaya, JC Bello Ruiz)