Former Sen. Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. and Vice President Leni Robredo. (File photos from the Philippine Daily Inquirer)
Vice President Leni Robredo’s camp believes that both of their representatives and that of former Sen. Bongbong Marcos’ camp should be allowed to witness the inventory and transport of ballot boxes.
Ballot boxes, election documents and paraphernalia were scheduled to be transported from their respective storage to designated hubs in Camarines Sur to be picked up by the Presidential Electoral Tribunal’s (PET) retrieval team.
The transfer of election paraphernalia was ordered by the Supreme Court (SC), sitting as the PET, in connection with the election protest filed by Marcos, the defeated vice presidential candidate.
In a 7-page motion dated January 3, Robredo, through her lawyers Romulo Macalintal and Maria Bernadette Sardillo, disputed PET’s order, which states that only respective municipal treasurers and elections officers would deliver the documents to the retrieval team.
Macalintal said both Robredo and Marcos’ camps would not be able to see the original state of the ballot boxes in its storage.
“The presence of the parties during the inventory of the ballot boxes, election documents and paraphernalia will enable them to make a preliminary observation as to its state, the condition of the ballot boxes, locks and seals prior to the retrieval,” the motion stated.
Robredo’s camp also asked the PET to allow both parties to escort and accompany the ballot boxes, election documents and paraphernalia from their respective storage to the designated hub.
In his electoral protest, Marcos alleged that Robredo won due to electoral frauds, anomalies and irregularities.
Robredo won with 14,418,817 votes, more than 200,000 votes against the 14,155,344 votes secured by Marcos. /jpv
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