Bongbong Marcos targets BARMM next in poll protest

MANILA, Philippines — The camp of defeated vice presidential candidate Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. sought to include alleged massive fraud in elections at the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, now the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM), in the protest case that he filed against Vice President Leni Robredo.

This drew a sharp reaction from Robredo’s lawyer, senatorial candidate Romulo Macalintal, who said allegations of fraud in the BARMM in the 2016 elections were part of an electoral protest case involving local races and did not have anything to do with the vice presidential race that Marcos accused the Robredo camp of winning by fraudulent means.

Marcos lawyer George Garcia pressed the Supreme Court, sitting as the Presidential Electoral Tribunal, to act on his motion to compel the Commission on Elections to submit its findings on an investigation of alleged election irregularities in the BARMM provinces of Maguindanao, Lanao del Sur and Basilan.

The three provinces, however, were not part of the ongoing revision of votes requested by the Marcos camp in a bid to overturn Robredo’s victory in the vice presidential race.

Marcos had chosen Camarines Sur, Negros Oriental and Iloilo as pilot provinces for the revision of ballots.

Garcia said after the revision of ballots in Camarines Sur, Negros Oriental and Iloilo, he would next seek a recount of results for the vice presidential race in the BARMM provinces due to massive violence, fraud, preshading of ballots and substitution of voters.