Election lawyer Romulo Macalintal. (File photo from INQUIRER.net)
The camp of Vice President Leni Robredo assured the public on Monday that the ballots that arrived at the Supreme Court were not intentionally soaked in water.
Robredo’s lawyer, Romulo Macalintal, said that the ballots were already wet before the Supreme Court received the ballots.
According to Macalintal, the ballots might have gotten wet while being stored in the municipalities in Camarines Sur due to typhoons.
“While they were still stored, nagkaroon ata ng bagyo noong panahon na iyon,” he said during a press briefing.
[While they were still stored, I think there was a storm then.]
“I assure you na yung mga ballots na yun, ay hindi binasa o nabasa dito sa Supreme Court,” he added. “Ah hindi. Otherwise, it’s a criminal case.”
[I assure you that those ballots did not get wet or were deliberately soaked at the Supreme Court. No. Otherwise, it’s a criminal case.]
The lawyer was reacting to the claim of former Sen. Ferdinand “Bongbong‘ Marcos Jr., during the first day of the vote recount for the electoral protest that he filed against Robredo, that there were irregularities in several ballot boxes in Bato, Camarines Sur.
According to Marcos, all ballots in the four precincts in Bato were soaked in water when they opened it.
“Apat na presinto, sa bayan ng Bato, lahat ng balota, nung binuksan ‘yung balota, lahat ng balota, basa,” Marcos said in an interview. “So, hindi magamit. Eh hindi namin maintindihan papaano. Hindi naman siguro, impossible naman siguro na dalawang taong basa ‘yan.”
[In four precincts in the town of Bato, all the ballots, when the boxes were opened, were wet. So they can’t be used. And we can’t understand how it happened. It’s impossible that they have been wet for two years.]
READ: Bongbong cites ‘irregularities’ in ballot boxes with vote recount under way
But Macalintal said it was still possible for the ballots to still be wet given that the water inside the ballot boxes had not gone dry.
Macalintal also admitted that he had seen the ballots and said that they were really wet. /atm