SC excludes Iloilo City in vote recount

MANILA, Philippines — The Supreme Court, sitting as the Presidential Electoral Tribunal (PET), has granted the appeal of the camp of Vice President Leni Robredo to exclude Iloilo City in the ongoing manual recount.

“Representatives of the high court in Iloilo apparently received a verbal order from the head office to cancel the retrieval of ballots in Iloilo City,” Emil Marañon III, a member of Robredo’s legal team, said yesterday.

On Monday, the camp of Robredo appealed the inclusion of Iloilo City in the ballot retrieval in connection with an election protest filed by former senator Ferdinand Marcos Jr. against the Vice President.

The province of Iloilo along with Camarines Sur and Negros Oriental were the pilot provinces identified by Marcos in his protest.

Marañon earlier said that Iloilo City is separate and independent from the province.

The PET team completed the retrieval of ballot boxes in the two districts of Iloilo.

The retrieval of ballot boxes in the province will last until Friday.