Tolentino’s ballot recount waste of time – Leila

MANILA, Philippines — Detained Sen. Leila de Lima said yesterday the ballot recount in the electoral protest of defeated  senatorial candidate Francis Tolentino was just a “waste of time and resources.”

De Lima said the recount, which started last week, is unnecessary because Tolentino’s poll protest against her before the Senate Electoral Tribunal (SET) was baseless.

She said out of the 74 ballot boxes that have been opened, Tolentino gathered only 19 votes while her votes increased to 40, or a net gain of 21 more votes in her favor.

“These initial results only show that the revision is a waste of time and resources, resources that only Tolentino has. He is, after all, the political adviser to the President who has undertaken all efforts to destroy me and remove me from office,” De Lima said in a statement.

De Lima, through her lawyer Teddy Rigoroso, filed a motion before the SET to cite Tolentino in contempt for his false and misleading statements of fraud and irregularities in the last elections.

She maintained that Tolentino violated the subjudice rule when he discussed during media interviews the merits of the election protest.

De Lima received 14,144,070 votes while Tolentino got 12,811,098.

She said Tolentino also failed to substantiate his claim that the SD cards used in the elections could have been pre-loaded with votes, and should be a basis to move for the annulment of the poll results.