Palace welcomes VP vote recount ‘to settle long-festering dispute’

Malacañang on Monday welcomed the start of the Presidential Electoral Tribunal (PET)’s vote recount for the electoral protest that former Sen. Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. lodged against Vice President Leni Robredo.

Senior Deputy Exec. Sec. Menardo Guevarra said the recount could finally settle the longstanding issue between the two camps.

“Palace welcomes the recount para masettle na ‘yang (to settle that) long-festering dispute na ‘yan,” Guevarra said in a press briefing.

“Other than that this is a judicial matter, this is before the Presidential Electoral Tribunal (PET) already so we leave it to the coequal branch,” he added.

The Supreme Court, sitting as the PET, on Monday commenced the manual recount of votes covering 5,418 precincts in three provinces — Camarines Sur, Iloilo, and Negros Oriental, which were selected by Marcos.

READ: Vote recount in Marcos poll protest vs Robredo begins

Marcos in June 2016 filed the electoral protest and accused Robredo of cheating in the May 2016 elections. Marcos urged the PET to declare him as the elected and rightful vice president of the country. /je