VP poll protest: Retrieval of Camsur ballots starts

MANILA, Philippines — The retrieval of ballot boxes in Camarines Sur –  one of the three contested provinces in the election protest filed by former senator Ferdinand Marcos Jr. against Vice President Leni Robredo in connection to the vice presidential race – will start today.

Robredo’s lawyer Maria Bernadette Sardillo expressed confidence that nothing will change when the recount of votes from the Vice President’s home province of Camarines Sur starts next month.

“We expect the recount of ballots to prove the victory of Vice President Leni Robredo,” Sardillo said in an interview over Bombo Radyo Naga yesterday.

Sardillo said they also expect the same results when the recount of votes from Iloilo and Negros Oriental, the two other pilot provinces, is over.

Based on the order of the Supreme Court, sitting as Presidential Electoral Tribunal (PET), the retrieval of ballot boxes in Camarines Sur will begin today until Jan. 26.

The ballots will be brought to the Supreme Court in Manila for the recount set in February.

Sardillo said the PET would decide on the exact date of the recount once all ballots from Camarines Sur are delivered to the SC.

Sardillo said the Vice President wants the process to be finished as soon as possible to “vindicate” her name from the baseless accusation of Marcos that she cheated in the 2016 elections, especially in Camarines Sur.

“We appeal to our supporters in Camarines Sur to continue guarding the process of the protest,” she said.

Robredo’s lawyers have repeatedly said that not a single election protest involving local elective positions had been successful where the issue was merely recount of the ballots since the implementation of the automated election in 2010.

Previous protests were dismissed because the results of the physical count of the ballots tallied exactly with the results of the count made by the vote counting machines and the consolidated canvassing system, the lawyers said.

Robredo defeated Marcos by slim margin of 263,473 votes in the May 2016 election, which Marcos claimed was marred by fraud.