Robredo calls on SC to junk Marcos’ plea seeking to stop use of ballot images in poll recount
THE camp of Vice President Maria Leonor “Leni” Robredo asked the Supreme Court to dismiss a petition by former Sen. Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos, Jr. to stop the High Court, sitting as Presidential Electoral Tribunal (PET), from using ballot images in the poll recount, saying that questioning it was useless.
In an urgent counter manifestation with comment and opposition to Marcos’ July 16 plea, Vice President Robredo’s camp argued that Marcos could not move to exclude the ballot images as evidence, considering that in his preliminary conference brief, he said that the manual recount of the 2016 Vice Presidential race stemming from his protest against Robredo’s victory should include the official ballots and ballot images.
Marcos’ preliminary conference read: “Protestant M arcos is hereby designating the provinces of Camarines Sur, Iloilo and Negros Oriental as his pilot areas for the manual recount and judicial revision of the paper ballots and/or the ballot images as well as the technical examination, forensic investigation, verification and analysis of the voter’s receipts, election returns, audit logs, transmission logs, the list of voters, particularly the election day computerized voter’s list and voters registration records, the books of voters and other pertinent election documents and/or paraphernalia used in the elections, as well as the automated election equipment and records such as the vote counting machines, consolidation canvass system units, secure digital cards (main and back up), and the other data storage devices containing electronic data and ballot images used during the May 9, 2016 national and local elections, pursuant to rule 65 of the 2010 PET rules.”
Robredo’s camp also said that the PET, in three separate resolutions, directed the revision, recount and re-appreciation of the decrypted ballot images in twenty five (25) clustered precincts in Camarines Sur since the original paper ballots were found to be wet or damaged.
“Now that the decrypted ballot images will confirm the victory of protestee Robredo and his defeat, protestant Marcos is now assailing the integrity of his own evidence. This simply cannot be allowed,” Robredo’s counter manifestation read.
“Aside from his general statements that the decrypted ballot images have allegedly been compromised and its integrity are dubious and highly questionable, protestant Marcos has not presented any evidence to substantiate his claims. In fact, contrary to his claims, this is the first time since the revision, recount and re-appreciation of ballots [which]started in April 2 that protestant Marcos has raised the authenticity and reliability of the decrypted ballot images,” Robredo’s camp said.
Robredo beat Marcos by 263,473 votes in the May 2016 polls. LLANESCA T. PANTI
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