Recount vs De Lima begins tomorrow

MANILA, Philippines — The Senate Electoral Tribunal (SET) will start tomorrow the recount of 635 ballot boxes in connection with the electoral protest of senatorial candidate Francis Tolentino against detained Sen. Leila de Lima.

The SET gave due course to Tolentino’s protest through SET Resolution No. 16-65 dated Sept. 14, 2017 which unanimously ordered the immediate recount of contested 635 ballot boxes containing ballots used during the May 9, 2016 automated senatorial elections.

The resolution was unanimously approved by SET members, led by its chairman, Supreme Court Justice Antonio Carpio, and all the SET members of the Supreme Court and the Senate.

Tolentino, who placed number 13th behind 12th placer De Lima, contested the results on various grounds, including but not limited to the change of computer hash codes which served as one of the grounds for the recent impeachment of Commission on Elections Chairman Andres Bautista by the House of Representatives last Oct. 10. 

De Lima did not file any counter-protest.

Tolentino, then an independent candidate who emerged as top placer in several localities nationwide, claimed that the anomalies stemmed from man-made as well as computer-generated manipulations not reflective of the real will of the people concerning the 12th and last senatorial slot.

Tolentino’s legal team is led by former University of the Philippines Law dean Pacifico Agabin.