An action star and a hard-hitting broadcaster led the 12 winning senators who were proclaimed by the Commission on Elections Wednesday.

'' I want all of you know that it's late in the evening. I feel wonderful tonight,'' said actor Robin Padilla to cheers as he referred to the song '' Wonderful Tonight'' which he sang during the campaign.

Padilla topped the official count with 26,612,434 followed by Antique Rep. Loren Legarda with 24,264,969 and broadcaster Raffy Tulfo third at 23,396,954. The 12 senators will serve for six years.

Tulfo drew on his wide following of his radio show where he went after erring officials and helped persons in need.

Out of the 12 new senators, Padilla, Tulfo and former Public Works Secretary Mark Villar are neophytes. Four are re-electionists while five are returning to the Upper House.

Canvassing of votes for president and vice president will be held on May 24. Former Senator Ferdinand ''Bongbong'' Marcos Jr is leading the unofficial count for president by a big margin over Vice President Leni Robredo. So does Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte-Carpio for vice president over Senator Francis Pangilinan.

The canvassing is expected to end on May 27, unless objections crop up.

Comelec Chairman Saidamen Pangarungan said he is "proud to say that the Commission on Elections has successfully defended the sovereign right of the people to the democratic process of elections."

He said the May polls saw the highest voter turnout in recent history with 83.11 percent out of 67.4 million voters.

He said election-related violence was at its lowest with 16 incidents compared to 160 in 2019.

Pangarungan said the Comelec Transparency Server saw all election results transmitted "in record time".

He added that the Comelec must not ignore glitches and problems in the May polls.

"Even as we look into the reports of VCM (vote counting machines) errors and a few other glitches in this elections, I trust that the Commission en Banc shall continually improve on the election process," said Pangarungan.

There were a total of 1,867 polling precincts which faced different issues with VCMs and SD cards that forced voters to wait for at least one hour before they could feed their ballots into the machines.

The Comelec also received reports of vote buying and unlawful activities. DMS