MANILA —  Commission on Elections chairman George Garcia on Monday night said there is no issuance of any suspension to proclaim former President Rodrigo Duterte if ever he wins Davao City's mayoral race despite being in The Hague, Netherlands.

In an interview with media reporters, the Garcia said the agency's jurisdiction over a candidate ends once the latter gets proclaimed.

"Una po, wala kasi tayong issue ng kahit anong order to suspend proclamation. Although i think may kaso, kafafile lang noong isang araw. It was filed yesterday, no'ng Sabado or Friday," he said.

He noted Comelec has yet to act on the complaint, hence it cannot do anything about the matter as of the moment.

"Sa atin pong batas, hangga't wala pong order to suspend proclamation, ang isa pong kandidato kahit na may kaso ay mapo-proklama pa rin," he explained.

Duterte is facing a complaint before the International Criminal Court on alleged crimes against humanity over his term's bloody war on drugs.

Garcia said the Department of the Interior and Local Government will handle the case of a candidate who has been proclaimed but is also facing a legal issue.

"Alam n'yo po, DILG na po ang bahala roon. Hanggang proclamation lang po kami sa isang taong nanalo. Basta po naproklama na siya, matatapos na jurisdiction ng Commission on Elections," he added.

UNOFFICIAL RESULTS CAN STILL BE CONTESTED

Garcia said the poll body can't present a full and complete tally yet since the results are mostly coming from individual precincts. 

"Hindi nga lang po namin pepwedeng ipakita 'yung kabuuan ng lahat-lahat kasi po para po kami gumawa ng isang official tally. Baka po kasi mag-jump agad sa conclusion na 'yun ang final result. Kasi remember po lahat ng results mula sa presinto, papunta sa munincipal board, sa provincial board, sa national board, puwede kasing kwestyunin ng abogado, ng iba't ibang partido o kandidato," he explained.

"Ang pumapasok po ay hindi buong probinsya, hindi buong syudad, kundi yung mga prisinto na nakapag-transmit na sa mga probinsyang yan," he added.

Garcia also stressed that "unofficial results" mean the rankings cannot be the basis yet of the agency for proclamation.

He said the partial tally is only for "transparency purposes" especially for concerned agencies and media.

The turnout of election results is at 62.17 percent as of 9:13 p.m. on Monday.