00:00In this midterm election, the Senator has the highest position to fight for.
00:14In the Philippines, in accordance with the 1987 Constitution,
00:18there are 24 Senators in the Senate with a high Congressional rank.
00:23They have been in office for 6 years and may sit for up to 2 consecutive terms.
00:29Twelve or half of them are elected every three years or midterm.
00:34Unlike the Congressmen who run every three years,
00:37half of the Senate must remain in order for the Senate policies to continue
00:42and for the incoming Senators to be free.
00:45According to the Constitution, the running Senators must be natural-born Filipino citizens
00:50who live in a country that will not be able to read for two years before the election,
00:5435 years old in the very election,
00:57know how to write and read, and a registered voter.
01:00Aside from enacting and implementing laws under the mandate of the Senators,
01:04declarations of war or state of war,
01:07appeasement or reconciliation of the Marshal or declaration of the President,
01:11or suspension of the Writ of Habeas Corpus,
01:14ratification of treaties or international agreements,
01:17convening as an impeachment court,
01:20and acquittal of those appointed by the President as Commission on Appointments.
01:28It's only been 78 days since the election of 2025,
01:31and COMELEC is now investigating the four possible incidents of vote-buying in the provinces.
01:37Sandra Aguinaldo was there.
01:43COMELEC is now investigating the four incidents of vote-buying,
01:47including the donation of aid to Balingasag, Misamis Oriental,
01:51while the portraits of three local aspirants were confiscated.
01:55This is also the report of the first large-scale vote-buying in Apayau.
01:59In Baguio City, the Commission is verifying the donation of P100 of a party-lead organization
02:06along with the membership ID.
02:08Premature campaigning was the complaint filed against Ponte Vedra Negros Oriental.
02:13If there's a complaint, it's better.
02:15If there's none, we will help establish it.
02:19And if there's enough evidence,
02:21we will sample it in 2023.
02:23There are a lot of people we didn't vote for even though we already won.
02:26We have governors who were disqualified in 2022.
02:31While they're seated, we will sample it.
02:35COMELEC and some of their telcos and partners also signed a contract
02:39for a quick transmission of the results of the vote-buying.
02:42According to COMELEC, it will start at 7 p.m.
02:46At 8.30 p.m., it is expected that the results will be known if no one will experience the aberration.
02:51We estimate that everyone will be able to transmit using the technology that our telcos have,
02:58including Starlink, until 8.30 p.m.
03:02Everyone.
03:03It's just for the time being, but it's unofficial.
03:06Partial but unofficial.
03:09It means that if it is transmitted, the watchers and lawyers will know immediately
03:17what they are expecting to transmit because they already have a copy of the election returns.
03:22Joint Venture will also be involved in the transmission.
03:27Coming from one machine will only take a minute to transmit.
03:33So if all of these SIMs that we engage or we got from our providers would transmit as expected,
03:42then in a few minutes, all results will be in the servers, in the data centers where our servers are.
03:52COMELEC also agreed with several large mall companies.
03:55They will put 42 branches of voting precincts so that the precincts in the schools will be open.
04:04Dr. Willie Ong has also formally withdrawn from the senatorial race
04:08by facing the fact that he has a house in COMELEC.
04:11He is still recovering from cancer.
04:14In connection with the parliamentary elections in the Bansamoro Autonomous Region in Maslim, Mindanao,
04:19Garcia said that the President has already signed the law for its postponement.
04:24He also showed the signed copy of the Republic Act 12123.
04:28In your knowledge, I was informed by Malacanang earlier that the President already signed the bill
04:35postponing the Bansamoro parliamentary elections from May to October 13.
04:41We are still waiting for the reaction of the Palacio about this.
04:44But Garcia said that they will prepare this in a short time.
04:49For GMA Integrated News, Sandra Ginaldo, for Tutok 24 Horas.
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