Vice President Leni Robredo speaks at the Universidad de Sta. Isabel in Naga City on Wednesday, Jan. 31, 2018. (Photo from her Facebook page)
Vice President Leni Robredo questioned on Wednesday the purported evidence of poll fraud obtained by losing candidate Bongbong Marcos, wondering how he got hold of allegedly tampered ballots when the ballots had not yet been brought to Manila for a recount.
“So may ballot boxes are still here in Camarines Sur,” Robredo, speaking in Filipino, told reporters in Naga City, her hometown, which is in Camarines Sur. “They haven’t been transported to Manila. So where did the evidence come from?”
According to a statement issued by her office, she said it was “worrying that there seems to be plan… an apparent plan to revise history.”
“There is plenty of propaganda that isn’t true. So we hope to get this over with, so there will be no more chance to spread more lies,” Robredo said.
This was in reaction to the Marcos camp’s Monday statement that a few ballot images acquired from Robredo’s stalwart of Camarines Sur showed square boxes beside her name instead of the oval that voters needed to shade.
These purported ballot images with squares beside Robredo’s name were then allegedly counted in her favor.
Her lawyer Romulo Macalintal said Tuesday that the Commission on Elections and the Supreme Court acting as the Presidential Electoral Tribunal should investigate Marcos over his acquisition of purported ballot images.
Robredo beat Marcos by 263,473 votes during the May 2016 elections, leading the latter to file an electoral protest before the PET. The recount of votes in the Liberal Party strongholds of Camarines Sur, Negros Oriental and Iloilo will begin in February.
Robredo was in Naga City to speak at the Universidad de Sta. Isabel, where she went for her elementary and high school education. /atm