Robin Padilla tightens grip in Senate race lead

ACTOR Robin Padilla continues to tighten his grip as the top senatorial candidate at the end of the third day of canvassing being conducted by the Commission on Elections (Comelec), which is sitting as the National Board of Canvassers (NBOC), at the Philippine International Convention Center (PICC) Forum Tent in Pasay City.

Based on the National Canvass Report 3 released on Friday afternoon, May 13, Padilla has already managed to get 23,908,730 votes.

Antique Rep. Loren Legarda and broadcaster Raffy Tulfo continued to hold the second and third places with 21,964,607 and 21,473,739 votes, respectively.

Ranked fourth to sixth are Senator Sherwin Gatchalian (18,642,633), Sorsogon Gov. Francis Escudero (18,509,704), and former public works chief Mark Villar (17,443,458).

Former House Speaker Alan Peter Cayetano (17,379,824), Senator Joel Villanueva (16,965,655), and Senator Migz Zubiri (16,779,090) occupy the seventh to ninth spots.

Rounding out the Top 12 are former senator JV Ejercito (14,352,402), Senator Risa Hontiveros (14,207,830), and former senator Jinggoy Estrada (13,745,623).

Just outside the winners’ circle are former Vice President Jejomar Binay (12,302,176) at 13th, former Quezon City mayor Herbert Bautista (11,793,785) at 14th, and former defense secretary Gibo Teodoro (11,224,898) at 15th.

The latest available partial and official NBOC numbers account for 121 out of 173 total COCs expected.

The canvassed COCs carry a total of 50,806,959 voters, who actually voted.

This is 83 percent voter turnout from the 60,642,773 total registered voters from the 121 COCs.