Bongbong Marcos lying, says Robredo’s camp

The camp of Vice President Leni Robredo accused former Sen. Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. of lying to the Presidential Electoral Tribunal (PET) after he allegedly submitted a list of witnesses from three Mindanao provinces who were not even registered voters.

In a manifestation to the PET, Robredo’s lawyers Romulo Macalintal and Maria Bernadette Sardillo informed the PET that the names of proposed witnesses on Marcos’ list were not registered voters of their precincts in Lanao del Sur, Maguindanao and Basilan.

Some were not even registered voters during the May 2016 elections, the lawyers said in a news release.

“In his vain attempt to convince the Honorable Tribunal to conduct a technical examination of election documents in the provinces of Lanao del Sur, Maguindanao and Basilan, Marcos has practically resorted to misleading if not totally deceptive representation,” Macalintal said in the manifestation.

Chance to comply

The lawyer recalled that during the July 11 preliminary conference of Marcos’ electoral protest, both parties agreed to name three witnesses per clustered precinct and submit it to the PET.

“Marcos did not comply,” Macalintal said.

“When ordered by the PET on Aug. 29, Marcos again did not comply,” he added.

After being given another chance by the PET to comply, Marcos submitted the names of 8,000 alleged registered voters.

“Contrary to these baseless claims, if not outright falsehood, the alleged witnesses identified by protestant Marcos are not registered voters,” Macalintal said.

In his latest submission to the PET, Macalintal said this showed Marcos’ election protest against Robredo was “bereft of facts.”

“Marcos must be reminded that the Honorable Tribunal is a court of law which deals with facts supported by evidence,” Macalintal said.

“The plain truth is, the election protest filed by protestant Marcos is not supported by his own supposed evidence,” he added.

Robredo defeated the son of late dictator Ferdinand Marcos by a slim margin of more than 260,000 votes in the 2016 elections.