Robredo victory now ‘unassailable,’ says Macalintal

Election lawyer Romulo Macalintal who is representing leading vice presidential candidate Leni Robredo shows to the media an authentic copy of a provincial certificate of canvass in a press briefing at the Liberal Party headquarters in Cubao, Quezon City. JULLIANE LOVE DE JESUS

The victory of Leni Robredo as vice president is now indisputable, the leading vice presidential candidate’s election lawyer said on Monday.

“We’re very, very confident that the victory of Leni Robredo is now unassailable and that’s why we should refer to her as presumptive vice president-elect,” election lawyer Romulo Macalintal said in a press briefing at the Liberal Party “Balay” headquarters in Cubao, Quezon City.

Presenting a breakdown of the unofficial count of votes, Macalintal said that if the public would base the results on the certificates of canvas turned over to the Commission on Elections (Comelec), it’s clear that Robredo has won the close vice presidential race.

READ: Robredo: Victory claim based on Comelec numbers

Amid  election cheating allegations the camp of Senator Bongbong Marcos are hurling at Robredo, Macalintal maintained that the sources of Robredo’s votes are as valid as those of presumptive President-elect Rodrigo Duterte.

“Robredo should now be called the presumptive vice president-elect in the same manner that presidential candidate Rodrigo Duterte is referred to as a presumptive leader in the presidential race. Why? Because the votes canvassed for the two positions came from the very same sources, from provinces and cities. And generally, from the same vote counting machines,” Macalintal said.

Based on the latest tabulation from the Comelec, Robredo got 14,322,666 votes  against Marcos’ 13,963,767 votes.

READ: Robredo camp claims will beat Marcos at least by a hairline

Macalintal pointed out that even though Marcos would lead the Overseas Absentee, Local Absentee and Detainee Voting, it would not be enough to surpass Robredo’s vote.

“From the OAV, we have computed that Marcos will get 176,669 against Robredo with 89,935. That’s our computation based on Comelec records,” he explained.

Macalintal continued: “In the LAV, Marcos got 11,683 while Robredo got 2,341. If we add all these votes, Mr. Marcos will get 14,152,726 votes versus 14,415,335 for Robredo or a difference of 262,609 in favor of Robredo.”

Robredo’s counsel said there were still votes from Rizal municipality in Laguna province that have not been transmitted.

“But it only involved 11,617 votes. If we credit all these votes to Marcos, Robredo will still lead with 250,994 votes,” he said.

“That’s the picture now why we claim victory,” said Macalintal. JE/rga