Robredo seeks immediate dismissal of Marcos electoral protest

MANILA, Philippines — Vice President Leni Robredo has asked the Supreme Court, sitting as the Presidential Electoral Tribunal, to junk the electoral protest of former Sen. Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr.

In a memorandum submitted to the tribunal, Robredo pointed out that Marcos failed to show any substantial recovery in his pilot provinces and that the protest should be "immediately dismissed."

Marcos picked three pilot provinces — Camarines Sur, Iloilo and Negros Oriental — for a recount of the votes in the May 2016 national elections.

The Robredo camp, however, stressed that the PET issued a unanimous decision in October 2019 that the vice president increased her vote-lead over Marcos after the revision and recount of ballots from the three pilot provinces.

The vice president's camp also called on Marcos to justify its request to conduct a technical examination of three additional provinces — Lanao del Sur, Maguindanao and Basilan.

"Notwithstanding the clear result of the revision, recount and re-appreciation from the pilot provinces, the Election Protest will still proceed to the Third Cause of Action, DIRECT protestant Marcos to present evidence to justify resort to a technical examination of the Election Day Computerized Voter's List vis-à-vis the Voter's Registration Records," Robredo's memorandum read.

The Marcos camp, on the other hand, appealed to the tribunal to "reconsider, review and re-examine" the results of the poll recount in the pilot provinces, where Robredo's lead increased.

The camp of the defeated vice presidential bet also asked asked the PET to proceed to the examination of the voters' lists in the three Mindanao provinces.

The Marcos camp claimed that the third cause of action is a "separate, distint and independent cause of action" from the second cause of action, which was to conduct a recount on the three pilot provinces.

In 2017, the tribunal already dismissed Marcos' first cause of action questioning the integrity of the automated election system.

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