Vice President Leni Robredo (Facebook image)

The bid of former Senator Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. to examine the voting records in Basilan, Lanao del Sur and Maguindanao which was ‘silently’ filed before the Supreme Court.

Vice President Leni Robredo on Wednesday asked the Supreme Court, sitting as Presidential Electoral Tribunal (PET), to deny the plea of former Senator Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. to examine the 2016 elections voting records in three Mindanao provinces.

In a 20-page counter manifestation filed by her lawyer Romulo Macalintal, Robredo argued that Marcos was trying to circumvent the rules in filing an “extremely urgent motion of grave concern with omnibus motion” last December before the PET, which is hearing the election protest case for the VP post.

Macalintal said Marcos is trying to make it appear that the said results of technical examination already covered Basilan, Lanao del Sur and Maguindanao of the Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao (ARMM).

Marcos also has an appeal for a technical examination of voting records in the ARMM.

However, under PET rules and recent ruling, the examination can only be done after the completion of the ongoing revision and recount of ballots from Marcos’ three pilot provinces namely Camarines Sur, Iloilo and Negros Oriental.

The PET was asked by the counsel of Marcos, Atty. George Garcia, to subpoena the Voters Identification Division of the Commission on Elections – Election Records and Statistics Department (Comelec ERSD) to produce the documents involving its technical examination on the Voters Registration Records (VRR) as against Election Day Computerized Voter’s List (EDCVL) of 508 established precincts in the provinces of Lanao del Sur, Maguindanao and Basilan.

Marcos likewise asked the PET to investigate all concerned chairmen and members of the Board of Election Inspector who served in the said three to determine their involvement and participation as to the incidence of substituted voting in the said provinces.

Marcos likewise asked the tribunal to direct the Comelec ERSD to conduct a technical examination on the signatures and/or thumbprints appearing on the VRR and EDCVL of the entire 2,756 protested clustered precincts of Lanao del Sur, Maguindanao and Basilan.

In seeking the technical examination of voting records, Marcos cited the supposed evidence of voters’ substitution in the said three provinces from a separate electoral protest filed by ex-Sulu vice governor Abdusakur Tan against Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) Governor Mujiv Hataman.

But the camp of Robredo said the issue whether a technical examination may be conducted on the voters signatures’ on the EDCVL and VRR has already been passed upon by the tribunal due to its resolution issued on 29 August 2017 limiting the ongoing scrutiny in the three pilot provinces.

“As to whether the election protest will proceed such that the prayer for technical examination will be granted, rests on whether protestant Marcos will be able to prove substantial recovery in his designated pilot provinces,” Robredo’s camp maintained.

Meanwhile, Macalintal said the recount is ongoing and the revision is estimated to be finished by June on the three pilot provinces and there are a total of 24 provinces which are being questioned by Marcos.