(Eagle News) –The camp of former Senator Bongbong Marcos on Monday, May 28, asked the Supreme Court sitting as the Presidential Electoral Tribunal to deny Vice President Leni Robredo’s request to for the manual vote recount to follow a 25 percent ballot shading threshold.
In a two-page comment to Robredo’s petition, Marcos said it was “incumbent” upon the PET to “obey and abide by its own rules of procedure which mandate the application of the 50 percent shading threshold in election protest cases.”
According to Marcos, “while it is true litigation is not a game of technicalities, it is equally true that every case must be prosecuted in accordance with the prescribed procedure to ensure an orderly and speedy administration of justice.”
“The instant case is no exception to that rule,” Marcos said.
“This Honorable Tribunal should not be swayed by the protestee’s illusive antics and propaganda,” he added.
On April 5, in an ex-parte motion, Robredo, through her lawyers, said the 25 percent threshold of the Commission on Elections should be followed because a 50 percent threshold set by the PET in 2010 “has resulted to and will result to a systematic decrease in the votes received by protestee Robredo.”
Vic Rodriguez, Bongbong Marcos’ spokesperson, has said however that the rules set by the PET should govern the ongoing manual ballot recount in connection with the former senator’s electoral protest.
But the PET denied this, saying her claim was “without basis.”
Robredo appealed the decision.
Marcos is protesting Robredo’s declaration as winner of the vice presidential race in 2016.
The manual recount initially covers three pilot provinces: Negros Oriental, Iloilo and Camarines Sur.