CALL her “presumptive Vice President-elect.”
The lead counsel of Camarines Sur Rep. Leni Robredo on Monday reiterated that there was no stopping her victory over Sen. Ferdinand Marcos Jr. in the tightly contested vice presidential race.
Romulo Macalintal dismissed as “procedural matter” the request of the Marcos camp to conduct an audit of the automated election system (AES), arguing that such a move should not delay the official canvassing and proclamation of the new President and Vice President.
Citing the latest tally from the Commission on Elections (Comelec), Macalintal said the Liberal Party (LP) vice presidential candidate was leading Marcos by a total of 262,609 votes.
“The victory of Robredo is now unassailable… [She] should now be called ‘presumptive Vice President-elect’ in the same manner [as presumptive] President-elect [Rodrigo] Duterte,” he said at a news briefing at the LP headquarters in Quezon City.
Not so fast
“Why? [It’s] because the votes canvassed for the two positions came from the same sources… of votes which were counted by the same electronic instruments, which were transmitted as results of the elections,” he added.
Macalintal’s suggestion did not sit well with the Marcos camp.
Marcos’ campaign adviser and Abakada Rep. Jonathan dela Cruz said: “That is quite a leap. After all, there are lots of issues surrounding the vice presidential race.”
Dela Cruz pointed out that Macalintal was basing his proposal on unofficial and partial tallies.
“The difference is problematic and a tsunami of complaints from all parties with evidence of irregularity and fraud has been offered,” he told the Inquirer.
He also disagreed with Macalintal’s opinion that the audit of the AES should be done after Robredo was proclaimed.
Election protest
“Let the audit ensue and the truth out so there will be no cloud of doubt over the results and the real winner is proclaimed,” Dela Cruz said.
Macalintal said Marcos should first file a formal election protest before a system audit of the May 9 balloting could be initiated.
Under the law, Macalintal said such legal remedy should not hinder Congress sitting as the national board of canvassers (NBOC) from formally canvassing the votes for the two highest elective positions.
Marcos, he added, may formally question the results of the vice presidential race before the Presidential Electoral Tribunal (PET) and not the Comelec or the NBOC.
Macalintal said the Marcos camp should also provide proof of irregularities in the conduct of the elections before a system audit could be initiated by the PET.
He noted that the senator, being a vice presidential aspirant, was among the recipients of the 30 copies of the official election returns (ERs) that reflected the official vote count from the precinct level.
Unless he can show differences in the official copies of ERs, Marcos cannot arbitrarily move for a system audit of the elections, according to Macalintal.
Fishing for evidence
In fact, the lawyer said the request of the Marcos camp was proof that it did not have any strong evidence of actionable election anomalies.
“If [they] request a system audit, it means that Marcos is fishing for evidence. [He] is practically asking the Comelec to develop his case,” Macalintal told reporters.
“It’s like saying, ‘Comelec help me develop my case [and] provide me with evidence [of election fraud].’ That’s not the way you develop your case. You have to present your own evidence,” he said.
He said Senator-elect Leila de Lima, herself a veteran election lawyer before joining the government, had been tapped by Robredo as chief consultant of her legal team.
Macalintal said the Robredo camp would block any move to have a separate proclamation for Duterte and Robredo as winners in the presidential and vice presidential contests, respectively.