VP warns vs false text messages

Vice President Leni Robredo press briefing at her office in New Manila, Quezon City.
INQUIRER FILE PHOTO/LYN RILLON

The office of Vice President Leni Robredo on Sunday urged the public to remain “more vigilant about any extralegal movements during this dark time in our history,” following a false text message that claimed of a scheduled recount of ballots for vice president at the end of the month.

The Office of the Vice President issued the statement early last night to address a text message that went around over the weekend that a “recount of ballots from four to five provinces will start end of November and finish by December, deliberations after.”

“You can bet early next year, we have a new VP. From a trusted source,” the text message read.

No recount

The Supreme Court, sitting as the Presidential Electoral Tribunal (PET), is still in the preliminary stages of tackling the election protest filed against Robredo by former Sen. Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos, Jr. who lost the vice presidential race by a little over 200,000 votes.

Georgina Hernandez, Robredo’s spokesperson, said the PET had not issued a recount order.

On the rumor, Hernandez said: “The objective is to steal the vice presidency from VP Leni.”

“This fear and grave concern are exacerbated by the way the Marcoses sneaked the burial of the dictator from the Filipino public. To get what they desperately want, they have resorted to impunity and complete disregard for the rule of law,” Hernandez said.