Robredo camp confident recount will affirm victory over Marcos

Former Sen. Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. and Vice President Leni Robredo. (File photos from the Philippine Daily Inquirer)

Vice President Leni Robredo’s camp has expressed confidence that the results of the ballot recount sought by defeated vice presidential candidate former Sen. Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. will come out in favor of Robredo.

“We are very confident that the results of the ballot recount from the three pilot provinces of Camarines Sur, Iloilo and Negros Oriental which were personally chosen by Marcos as the ‘best provinces’ where he could prove the irregularities alleged in his protest, will confirm and affirm the victory of Robredo as the duly elected Vice President in the 2016 elections,” lawyer Romulo Macalintal said in a statement on Monday.

This is because, Macalintal said, since 2010, more than 500 automated election protests involving ballot recounts for local posts had been unsuccessful.

“All of them were dismissed because the results of the physical count of the ballots tallied exactly with the results of the count made by the vote counting machines (VCMs) and the consolidated canvassing system,” Macalintal said.

He explained there would be no reason the physical recount for ballots for the national position would be different “if the results in the recount of ballots for local elective officials were accurate.”

“The ballots used for the local and national elective positions were the same and they were likewise counted and tallied by the same VCMs and CCS [consolidation and canvass system],” he said.

Marcos alleged that Robredo won the vice presidency due to electoral frauds, anomalies and irregularities. He also accused the Liberal Party (LP) of electronic cheating.

Robredo won the vice presidential seat with 14,418,817 votes, more than 200,000 votes against the 14,155,344 votes secured by Marcos. /atm