Robredo, Marcos file final plea in poll protest at SC

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

MANILA, Philippines — Vice President Leni Robredo and rival Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. have made their final arguments before the Supreme Court hands out its ruling on whether to dismiss or proceed with Marcos’ election protest after the test recount.

In their respective memoranda filed on Dec. 19, 2019, Robredo cited the court’s own rules and argued that the protest should be dismissed since Marcos had failed to get more votes during the ballot revision and recount in the pilot provinces that he himself had chosen and that the recount actually added to her votes.

On the other hand, Marcos asked the Supreme Court acting as the Presidential Electoral Tribunal to annul the votes in the provinces of Lanao del Sur, Maguindanao and Basilan due to alleged election violence, regardless of the test recount results.

Setting aside their respective votes in the three Mindanao provinces would allow Marcos to overtake Robredo’s total votes.

In the official tally, Robredo edged Marcos by only 263,473 votes, garnering 14,418,817 votes against Marcos’ 14,155,344.