Camarines Sur 2nd district Rep. LRay Villafuerte views the just-concluded May 9 election as a "highly credible" one, and praises the Commission on Elections (Comelec) because of it.
“While there were isolated cases of poll-day hitches, the conduct of this year’s national and local elections was generally faster and more efficient than in past computerized polls, leading to a highly credible balloting that has settled without doubt the victory of a presidential candidate who a majority of Filipino voters want to lead our country back to its path of high and inclusive growth," Rep. Villafuerte said in a statement Thursday, May 12.
According to the Bicol solon, the speedy transmittal of voting results of the May 9 polls "has buttressed the credibility of a presidential elections that will apparently make President-elect Ferdinand Marcos Jr. the first-ever, post-EDSA candidate who has won by a clear majority".
Partial and unofficial results showed that presumptive president Marcos amassed over 31 million votes--16 million more than the second-placed opposition leader, Vice President Leni Robredo. Robredo hails from Naga, also in Bicol.
“The generally peaceful and orderly elections plus the subsequent speedy transmittal of the voting results have helped prop up the resounding win of ," said Rep. Villafuerte, a former House deputty speaker.
He noted that this speedy transmittal was also witnessed in his native of Camarines Sur, wherein Comelec was able to proclaim within 24 hours of the precincts' closure many of the winning candidates.
This included Rep. Villafuerte, who was reelected as congressman of the second district; three-term Governor Miguel Luis “Migz” Villafuerte ,who was elected as 5th district representative; and entrepreneur Vincenzo Renato ‘Luigi’ Villafuerte as governor.
Rep. Villafuerte appealed for national unity following the highly-polarizing May polls and called on all Filipinos to rally behind the presumptive president.
“I believe BBM’s (Bongbong Marcos) heart is in the right place, and that he would hit the ground running in pursuing such a pro-poor, pro-growth agenda by seeking national consensus behind programs and projects that would accelerate poverty reduction and build on the initiatives of the incumbent administration in further liberalizing our economy to attract more FDIs (foreign direct investments) and create more—and quality—jobs,” he said.