QUEZON CITY, Philippines (Eagle News) — The Supreme Court is all set to start the manual recount of ballots cast in three provinces on the vice-presidential race early next year as the electoral protest case filed by vice-presidential candidate former senator Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos moved forward.
The recount of the ballots in Negros Oriental, Iloilo and Camarines Sur, Robredo’s home province, will be done in the Supreme Court’s gymnasium.
Both camps remained positive that this manual recount of the votes for the vice-president in the three selected province would be good for their parties.
Marcos Jr’s legal counsel, Atty. George Garcia, said this is a welcome development that would lead to the revision of ballots and eventually secure a win for his client, former Senator Marcos.
Marcos lost by a margin of only 263,473 votes to Robredo who was eventually declared Vice-President after the May 2016 polls.
“Natutuwa kami, siempre para sa kampo namin, although na-delay nang kaunti, ibig sabihin nito tuluy-tuloy na po ito. At sana matapos na agad ang pag-revise ng mga balota,” Garcia said.
But Robredo’s legal counsel, Atty. Romulo Macalintal believes that the results of the manual recount would not change the results of the voting. He expressed satisfaction that the poll recount would finally start to erase speculations that Robredo is working to stall the recount.
“Kami’y natutuwa na magsisimula na ito, dahil sa kung anu-ano ang sinasabing balita ng kabilang panig na kami raw ay nag-dedelay, inaantala daw naming itong revision. Kahit kailan hindi kami nag-dedelay. Hindi kami nag-aantala ng revision or recount,” Macalintal claimed.
“Sa katunayan ay matagal na naming hinihintay ito dahil kami ay naniniwala na kapag nagkaroon ng recount ng balota, yan ay magpapatunay lamang na talagang nanalo si Vice President Leni Robredo,” he said.
The high court sitting as the Presidential Electoral Tribunal (PET) will discuss and determine the regulations for the manual recount such as the number of ballots to be counted per day, the rules on the objections coming from both parties, and the number of committees that will be involved in the counting of ballots.
The Marcos camp said that this development meant that their electoral protest case will finally progress.
“Ibig sabihin tuluy-tuloy na ito. Hopefully, makapagkolekta na kami this month ng ilang boxes sa unang probinsya, and then sa January, makapag-revise na kami,” said Atty. Garcia, Marcos Jr’s counsel.
Robredo’s lawyer, Macalintal, however doubted that Marcos’ poll protest case would amount to anything.
He claimed that in the more than 500 electoral protests in the country that stemmed from the automated elections, not one case had resulted in a victory for the one who filed the case.
The same thing will happen in the Marcos poll protest case, Macalintal insisted.
He said Robredo’s win will just be upheld after the poll recount in the three provinces selected by the Marcos camp which included the Vice-President’s bailiwick and home province, Camarines Sur.
“Kami’y naniniwala na ang recount dyan sa Camarines Sur, Iloilo at Negros Oriental ay magbibigay lamang ng parehong resulta. Kung ano ang resulta ng physcial count ngayon ng mga balota, yun din ang resulta na nakita doon sa election returns na binilang ng mga vote counting machines at lahat ng mga makinang ginamit nung nakaraang halalan,” Macalintal said.
-Decryption of digital cards already ongoing-
Decryption of secured digital cards are still continuing.
The Marcos camp believes this is good for their case.
The secured digital cards were supposedly used in the printing of the ballot copies.
“Yun talaga ang purpose namin, na sana yung mga images or pictures ng mga balota ay makumpara namin doon sa original na balota na naroon sa loob ng ballot box. Para ma-compare naming yung images,” Marcos’ counsel Atty. Garcia said.
The Supreme Court sitting as the PET had already called both camps on Monday, December 4, to discuss the mechanics of the manual recount in the three provinces that will start early next year.
The Marcos camp believes that the revision of ballots can start as early as January next year.
(Based on video report of Erwin Temperante, Eagle News Service)