QUEZON City, Philippines (Eagle News) — Vice President Leni Robredo’s through his lawyer, Atty. Romulo Macalintal filed an urgent motion and manifestation before the Presidential Electoral Tribunal (PET) asking it to order former Senator Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr., to pay for the custody of the vote counting machines connected to his electoral protest.
In the manifestation filed by the Commission on Elections, the COMELEC said that the preservation and retention of vote counting machines and other paraphernalia used during the 2016 election would cost almost Php 2.08 billion on account of Marcos’ election protest.
Macalintal also said that it would be unfair for the public to shoulder the cost of Marcos’ electoral protest.
“Bakit namin hinihingi ito? Because he asked for the retention of 92,509 vote-counting machines (VCMs)… Dapat naisoli na ito sa Smartmatic pero hindi naisasauli dahil nga sa protesta ni Marcos at ito ay magkakahalaga ng P2 billion for retaining that,” said Macalintal in a press conference.