Robredo camp: Marcos signed wrong pleading
MANILA, Philippines — After challenging the camp of Vice President Leni Robredo to withdraw pending motions in the electoral protest, the camp of former Sen. Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos signed a wrong document.
On Tuesday, elections lawyer Romulo Macalintal—counsel of Robredo—signed the motion to withdraw all pending motions that may delay the election recount.
The veteran elections lawyer invited the camp of defeated vice presidential candidate on Wednesday's press conference, but the camp of Marcos, instead, presented Macalintal with an already signed document.
However, the document was merely a manifestation and not a motion to withdraw, Macalintal pointed out.
"Marcos presented us with a wrong document," Macalintal said in a press conference.
READ: Robredo camp accepts Marcos challenge to withdraw all motions before PET
"A motion is a pleading where a party asks the court to grant him the relief or remedies or what he wants from court. A manifestation is merely a pleading wherein the party merely makes a representation or statement which the court may just take not of without any action at all," Macalintal added.
"The PET could not act on manifestation because you are only informing the PET," the lawyer added.
Macalintal signed the joint motion with a prayer asking the tribunal to "withdraw any and all pending motion which may delay the recount proceeding."
Macalintal said that ballot recount is set to start on March 19.
Last week, Marcos presented evidence that would supposedly show fraud during the 2016 national and local elections. He presented copies of ballot images from Camarines Sur and Negros Oriental that would supposedly prove massive fraud during the 2016 polls.
Robredo’s camp dismissed the supposed evidence as “highly ridiculous if not outright frivolous” and urged the PET and the Commission on Elections to investigate the source of the images.
Marcos, the son of the ousted Philippine dictator Ferdinand Marcos, has accused Robredo of cheating her way to the second highest office in the land. He lost to former Camarines Sur Rep. and human rights lawyer Robredo by a slim margin of about 260,000 votes in the 2016 national elections.
If Marcos wins in his electoral protest, this will mean a massive step in efforts by his family to rehabilitate and regain the presidential palace 32 years after their patriarch was ousted from power.
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