Liberal Party alarmed by PET’s threshold rule

MANILA, Philippines — The Liberal Party on Thursday expressed deep concern on the insistence of the Presidential Electoral Tribunal to apply the 50 percent threshold in determining the validity of votes during the ongoing vote recount for the 2016 vice presidential race.

In a statement, the erstwhile ruling party said that the threshold rule raises alarm, especially in light of what it called the attempts of former Sen. Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. to “discredit the process and steal the position from Vice President Leni Robredo.”

“If he really is sure of his victory, Mr. Marcos and his lawyers would not resort to cheap tactics, seeking to turn technicalities, caused by circumstances common in any election, into evidence to boost his case,” LP said.

Robredo, along with her legal counsels Romulo Macanlintal and Bernadette Sardillo, asked the PET Thursday morning to reverse its earlier ruling that junked their appeal to apply the 25 percent threshold for the ongoing ballot recount.

Threshold pertains to what percentage of the vote should be shaded to be counted.

The tribunal junked her appeal in a five-page resolution dated April 10.

According to a STAR report, unnamed sources said that Robredo already lost about 5,000 votes due to the threshold rule.

READ: Robredo appeals anew 25% threshold on vote validity

Well-deserved victory

LP maintained that the victory of Robredo was “hard-won and well-deserved.”

“As chairperson, she has exemplified the principles of our party. And with that, we commit to stand by her as takes on this fight—a fight that goes beyond merely affirming the victory she earned fair and square in 2016,” it said.

The party added: “This is a fight for truth, for the values we hold dear as a nation and for the lessons we carry from the dark parts of our shared history.”

Marcos filed the protest on June 29, 2016, accusing the camp of Robredo committed electoral fraud in the May 2016 national polls.

Robredo defeated the dictator’s son by a slim margin of 263,473 votes.