Robredo camp: Marcos protest is dying
awyer Romulo Macalintal, lead counsel for Vice President Leni Robredo, said that they are not delaying the electoral protest of former Sen. Bongbong Marcos. Philstar.com/Jonathan Asuncion, file
MANILA, Philippines — The camp of Vice President Leni Robredo remains confident of victory over the election protest of former Sen. Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr. following the recent decision of the Supreme Court, sitting as the Presidential Electoral Tribunal.
On Tuesday, the tribunal upheld the integrity of the 2016 elections but ordered the retrieval of all the ballot boxes and election materials in Marcos' three pilot provinces — Camarines Sur, Iloilo and Negros Oriental.
READ: SC upholds integrity of 2016 polls, orders ballot boxes retrieved
"Naghihingalo na ang protestang 'yan at sana naman 'yan ay mapag-aralan nang mabuti para hindi na hustong tumatagal 'yan," Romulo Macalintal, Robredo's election lawyer, said in a telephone interview with ANC's "Headstart" Wednesday.
The PET dismissed Marcos' first cause of action which was to nullify the results of the vice presidential race due to a "flawed" automated election system.
Marcos would have to prove first that he has substantial recovery from the recount of the three pilot provinces.
"'Pag wala siyang napatunayan d'yan mababalewala na, dismiss na ang kanyang kaso," Macalintal said.
The annulment of the election results from Basilan, Lanao del Sur and Maguindanao cannot proceed unless the Marcos camp recovers substantial evidence from Camarines Sur, Iloilo and Negros Oriental.
The tribunal will have to decide on the three pilot provinces before moving on to the second cause of action, which seeks to revise and recount all voters' receipts, election returns and other documents in 27 provinces and highly urbanized cities used in the May 2016 elections.
Marcos claims evidence of anomalies in Basilan, Lanao Sur, Maguindanao
The Marcos camp, meanwhile, claimed that they have evidence to prove that there was an anomaly in the election in Basilan, Lanao del Sur and Maguindanao.
George Garcia, head of Marcos' legal team, claimed about 51 percent of the voters in the three provinces had signatures in the election returns different from those on their voters' registration records.
"We have evidence to prove that," Garcia said.
The annulment of the election results in the three provinces may result in Marcos winning by 45,000-vote margin against Robredo, he said.
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