Robredo's camp: VP win the only truth amid issues

MANILA, Philippines — The lawyers of Vice President Leni Robredo declared on Friday that her victory in last year’s national election was the only truth in the issues surrounding her electoral win over former Sen. Ferdinand Marcos Jr.

In a statement released to the media, the lawyers of the vice president said that Robredo was “validly voted upon and proclaimed as Vice President of this country” as they assailed the petition of Marcos as being based on “general allegations and manufactured evidence.”

According to the prefatory statement of the pre-trial brief submitted by Romulo Macalintal and Maria Bernadette Sardillo, lawyers of Robredo, Marcos was relying on evidence and allegations designed to sway the results in his favor.

Robredo’s lawyers said: “Marcos is throwing everything on the wall, hoping that something sticks.”

On Friday, Marcos listed three pilot provinces for recount that would allegedly show the merits of his election protest questioning the validity of Robredo’s victory.

Victor Rodriguez, a Marcos spokesperson, told reporters that they had chosen Camarines Sur, Iloilo and Negros Oriental because these locations would purportedly show the major discrepancies between the cast ballots and those transmitted by the Vote Counting Machines and reported by the Certificates of Canvass.

READ: Marcos lists 3 provinces for pilot recount

The statement from Robredo also accused Marcos of resorting to “false testimonies” in coming before the Supreme Court sitting as the Presidential Electoral Tribunal.

“With due respect, Marcos must come before the Honorable Tribunal certain, at the outset, of his cause and able to prove it, and certainly without resorting to false testimonies,” it said.

Macalintal said that in his protest Marcos claimed that the 2016 Automated Election System was non-compliant with Republic Act 8436, as amended, a defect that rendered the whole automated election system null and void.

“Yet, in doing so, Marcos limits his questions to one position – the Vice-Presidency. It is clear, however, that his claim effectively attacks not only protestee Robredo’s canvassed votes but also his own,” the Robredo lawyer said.

Marcos now wants the PET to proclaim him as the winner in an election “which he simultaneously impugns and claims to be null and void,” according to Macalintal.

Marcos also proceeded to contradict himself by asking for relief inconsistent with his claim that the 2016 election was invalid, Macalintal said.

Macalintal said that Marcos was asking for the revision of votes in all clustered precincts in 22 provinces and five highly urbanized areas, in effect outside the ambit of an election protest.