![]()
FILE PHOTO: Vice President Maria Leonor “Leni” Robredo
MANILA, Philippines – The lawyers of Vice President Leni Robredo filed on Wednesday (July 11) another motion urging the Presidential Electoral Tribunal (PET) to give the Commission on Elections (Comelec) only five days to submit its comment on the ballot shading threshold issue amid the continuing vice presidential race vote recount.
Robredo’s camp explains this is to avoid any further delays in the resolution of its motion for reconsideration before the PET on the matter.
They believe that the Comelec’s confirmation of the minimum percentage of shading to be considered as a valid vote can help the pet decide on the case.
The Vice President initially appealed to PET to use a 25 percent ballot shading threshold, arguing this was set by the Comelec in 2016 polls.
This was despite the move of Solicitor General Jose Calida to favor former Senator Bongbong Marcos’ stand to use the 50% threshold as a standard in the electoral case.
The Comelec, so far, has yet to issue a statement on the issue.
Meanwhile, Robredo’s camp also asked the Supreme Court (SC) to show the CCTV footage to prove that Marcos’ camp delivered snacks on the 4th floor of the PET’s office for the swimming party
Atty. Emil Maranon, the legal consultant of Robredo’s team, maintained there is nothing wrong in the activity.
They also insisted it was revisor Osmundo Abuyuan’s personal decision to attend the outing and that they could have stopped him if they have known about it beforehand.
“I think last week they have already meted some penalty doon sa mga taong involved sa outing and what we see here is a very clear case of a PR stunt kasi inuunahan lang ni Bongbong Marcos ang investigation,” said Atty. Emil Marañon, Robredo’s legal consultant.
PET head revisors have the duty to identify valid, invalid or stray votes and has access in vote counting machines and ballot boxes in the VP race vote recount.
Marcos’ legal counsel, Atty. Vic Rodriguez, meanwhile, urges Robredo to show the video and prove their allegations
“Malinaw na paglabag po ito sa ethical standards at malinaw po ito sapagkat bago po sila manungkulan bilang head revisor, sila po ay nanungkulan sa kanilang tungkulin in all fidelity and allegiance to the Tribunal,” argued Rodriquez.
“If you want to appear na there’s no malice or walang influence sa part ni Bongbong Marcos, he should’ve not done that. He should have been careful,” said Marañon.
The recount in the vice presidential votes is still ongoing in Camarines Sur and Iloilo.
Last Monday, Marcos’ camp asked the PET to probe Robredo’s head revisor for allegedly violating the standard in the ongoing case. – Mai Bermudez / UNTV News and Rescue
The post Robredo asks PET to give Comelec 5 days to comment on vote shading threshold appeared first on UNTV News.