QUEZON City, Philippines (Eagle News) — Former Senator Ferdinand Marcos Jr. is asking the Supreme Court, sitting as the Presidential Electoral Tribunal (PET), to make the Commission on Elections (COMELEC) pay the rental and storage fees of the ballot boxes, as well as the other fees on the preservation and safekeeping of election materials and paraphernalia, in connection with his electoral protest.
Marcos, through his counsel George Erwin Garcia, said that it is the duty of the COMELEC to shoulder the fees in the last election.
“The Comelec is mandated by the Constitution to act as the primary guardian of the sanctity of ballots and other materials in the exercise of its fundamental duty to enforce and administer all laws and regulations in the conduct of the election,” Marcos’ letter pointed out.
The letter said that this was “precisely why the Precautionary Protection Order (PPO) issued by the Honorable Tribunal in this case was directed to the Comelec and its concerned officials and employees.”
“Consequently, all the costs and expenses necessary and incidental to the safekeeping of the ballot boxes and its contents and other election paraphernalia should be assumed by the Comelec,” it added.
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