Leni camp to SC: Let Marcos pay P2.08-B VCM maintenance cost

Election lawyer Romulo Macalintal. JULLIANE LOVE DE JESUS/INQUIRER FILE PHOTO

Former Senator Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos should pay the P2.08 billion amount for the maintenance of the Vote Counting Machines (VCMs), the camp of Vice President Leni Robredo told the Supreme Court sitting as Presidential Electoral Tribunal (PET).

Robredo, through her lawyers Romulo Macalintal and Maria Bernadette Sardillo, said “[Mr. Marcos] must shoulder any amount that the Commissions on Elections (Comelec) may be required to pay on account of his election protest.”

The Vice President, in a nine-page manifestation with omnibus motion for clarification, said the Comelec already informed the tribunal that it may incur a total of P2,078,304,255.76 on account of the election protest.

READ: Comelec to list costs of Marcos poll protest before PET

“Protestee Robredo seeks clarification on who will be liable for the P2,078,304,255.76, representing the cost of the VCMs leased and used during the May 9, 2016 National and Local Elections,” the manifestation reads.

Robredo’s camp prays that the tribunal should “[direct] the [Comelec] to clarify whether protestant Marcos on account of this Election Protest will be held liable for the P2,078,304,255.76 under the [Automated Election Systems (AES)] Contracts,” the camp added.

Robredo’s camp said they did not object to the turnover of the VCMs to Smartmatic and on the closure activities proposed by Comelec.

“Consequently, protestee [Ms.] Robredo should not be held liable for the P2,078,304,255.76 under the AES Contracts,” their manifestation reads.

The Tribunal has set the preliminary conference on the electoral and counter-electoral protest on July 11, 2:00 p.m.

The case stemmed from an electoral protest filed by Marcos after losing in the vice-presidential race by a slim margin of about 260,000 votes to Robredo after leading by almost a million votes early in the election count. JPV