Camarines Sur voters to PET: Review ruling on ballot shading

MANILA, Philippines — Supporters of Vice President Leni Robredo in Camarines Sur yesterday urged the Supreme Court (SC) sitting as the Presidential Electoral Tribunal (PET) to reconsider its ruling on the ballot shading threshold in the manual recount of the vice presidential race in 2016.

The group led by Trinity Mayor, president of Batutilan Bicol, and Irene Sacbibit of the Atty. Leni G. Robredo Volunteers submitted a letter with 10,000 signatures asking the PET to use the 25 percent instead of 50 percent ballot shading threshold, saying it would cause massive disenfranchisement of voters.

Robredo’s supporters led by former Commission on Human Rights chairperson Etta Rosales had earlier asked the Commission on Elections (Comelec) to stand firm on the 25 percent shading threshold it had set for the 2016 elections. 

In its April 10 decision, the PET denied Robredo’s motion to consider ballots with at least 25 percent of its oval space shaded as valid, saying it was not aware of any Comelec resolution on the applicability of the threshold. 

 As this developed, former senator Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. urged the PET to speed up the recount of votes.

“Two years is too long to keep the people waiting. What were the true results in the last elections? If there are anomalies and mistakes, who are responsible?” Marcos told reporters during a visit to the SC yesterday. – Edu Punay