PET allows release of soft copy of ballot images to Robredo

MANILA, Philippines — The Supreme Court, sitting as Presidential Electoral Tribunal, allowed the release of soft copies of the ballot images from pilot provinces identified in the poll protest to the camp of Vice President Leni Robredo.

In a three-page resolution dated November 7, but released to the media only on December 1, the PET granted Robredo's Urgent Ex-Parte Motion to be Allowed to Secure Soft Copies of the Ballot Images and Other Reports from the Decrypted Secured Digital Code from the contested clustered precincts in three provinces.

Former Sen. Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr. accused Robredo of electoral fraud and filed a poll protest before the tribunal last year.

He identified the three pilot provinces. These are: Robredo's home province, Camarines Sur, Iloilo and Negros Oriental. 

Marcos earlier argued against Robredo's earlier appeal to secure soft copy of the ballot images. He said that it was him who covered for the fees of decryption and ballot printing of ballot images amounting to P2,974,075.

The camp of Marcos filed a comment, in reply to Robredo's appeal. Part of comment reads: "Protestee Robredo should not be allowed to secure both printed and soft copies of the ballot images, election results, audit logs and other relevant documents which were generated during the decryption of the secure digital (SD) images" for the contested clustered precincts in three provinces.

Marcos insisted that the ongoing decryption activity was initiated solely by their camp and that Robredo's motion should be denied.

Technical examination denied

The tribunal, in the same resolution, also junked Marcos' motion for partial reconsideration to allow technical examination of voters' signatures in Lanao Del Sur, Maguindanao and Basilan.

Marcos filed the motion on September 15, appealing to the tribunal for the "technical examination of the voters' signatures appearing on the [Election Day Computerized Voter's List (EDCVL)] as against the voters' signatures appearing on the Voter Registration Records (VRR)."

Should the PET allow his request, Marcos said, his claim that "there was massive substitute-voting in Lanao Del Sur, Maguindanao and Basilan" in the 2016 national elections will be corroborated.

Marcos earlier claimed that there are fake votes in the said three provinces in the Mindanao.

But the PET denied Marcos' appeal due to lack of merit.

Marcos, the son of the ousted Philippine dictator Ferdinand Marcos, accused of committing massive human rights violations and corruption during his more than two decades in office and died in exile in Hawaii, has accused Robredo of cheating her way to the second highest office in the land.

He lost to former Camarines Sur Rep. and human rights lawyer Robredo by a slim margin of about 260,000 votes in the 2016 national elections.

READ: SC upholds integrity of 2016 polls, orders ballot boxes retrieved