Robredo camps says Bongbong Marcos case rests on 3 provinces

PILI, Camarines Sur — The recount of votes in three of 25 provinces where Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. claimed that cheating in favor of Vice President Leni Robredo deprived him of victory would be key to Marcos’ election protest, according to Robredo’s lawyer.

Lawyer Maria Bernadette Sardillo, speaking for Robredo, said the Supreme Court last year upheld the integrity of the automated election system which was why Marcos’ protest “has to proceed to the recounting of votes.”

Marcos’ protest, she said, would “rise or fall” on the results of the recount in the provinces of Camarines Sur, Iloilo and Negros Oriental which the son of the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos listed.

According to Sardillo, if the recount in the three provinces showed there was no fraud, then Marcos’ protest should be immediately dismissed.

Official results of the vice presidential race in Camarines Sur showed that Robredo got 664,190 votes (85 percent) to Marcos’ 41,219 (5 percent).

On Tuesday, the Commission on Elections started retrieval of ballot boxes and other election documents in Camarines Sur.