Robredo camp hits Marcos over poll fraud claims

FILE: Former Senator Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. and Vice President Leni Robredo (PNA photo)

MANILA — The camp of Vice President Leni Robredo slammed the claims of former Senator Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos, Jr., that there were “massive frauds” that transpired in the May 2016 elections.

“Itong mga sinasabi niyang ito ay nakakatawa, laughing matters as far as I am concerned. Ito iyong tinatawag na ‘this made me laugh,’ sabi nga. If laughter is the best medicine, then we can consider it the best medicine for us for the day,” Robredo’s legal counsel Romulo Macalintal said in a press conference on Tuesday.

“The excited and hysterical claim of (Marcos) and his spokesperson Atty. Vic Rodriguez that they allegedly uncovered solid and inconvertible evidence of massive fraud that transpired in the 2016 elections’ based on their own copies of alleged ballot images used in the said election, is highly ridiculous if not outright frivolous,” the lawyer added.

Macalintal said Marcos’ claims of discrepancies in the hundreds of decrypted ballot images from Camarines Sur and Negros Oriental only show that the latter’s protest “is facing its dismissal.”

“He has no evidence at all. That is why he is now using evidence outside the election protest that he filed sa Presidential Electoral Tribunal (PET),” he said.

“Sa madaling salita, gumagamit na siya ngayon ng iba’t ibang uri ng sinasabi niya na ebidensya na hindi naman nilalaman ng kaniyang protesta. At ang mga ganiyang uri ng evidence ay what you call inadmissible evidence. It shows the weakness of the protest, and it will be revealed further when we start the recount of the ballots,” Robredo’s counsel added.

He also denied the statement of Marcos that they already had the complete copies of the ballot images which they secured in November.

“Paano kami magkakaroon ng ballot images na iyan, eh siya nga ang nag-request niyan? Bago kami makakuha niya, kailangan munang maaprubahan ang kaniyang request, ang mga ballot images na iyan madala sa Presidential Electoral Tribunal, at saka lamang kami makaka-request. Hanggang ngayon wala pa kaming kopya ng nasabing mga ballot images,” the lawyer added.

Macalintal likewise belied the claims that they did not have pending motions on the electoral protest, adding that they were pushing for the recount of the votes to start.

“So ayan, another kasinungalingan iyan. Sinasabi niya may motion kami. Wala kaming motion, ano? Wala kaming motion para matigil iyong recount. There is no pending motion from our camp where we are asking that the recount be suspended or otherwise be stopped by the PET,” he said.

“As a matter of fact, kami nga iyong humihingi na sana bilisan na natin ito, kasi naniniwala kami na ang recount ay walang mangyayari, because sa lahat ng mga nagkaroon ng recount na election protest, wala pa pong nananalo sa recount sa automated election. Sa manual election, talagang may nangyayari na may nananalo sa recount, but automated election, wala pang nananalo diyan kasi kung ano iyong binoto mo diyan sa precinct level, iyon din ang bibilangin kapag nagkaroon ng mga protesta,” he furthered.

On Monday, Marcos said that they had decrypted ballot images showing that ballots had “square shapes.”

The former legislator also challenged Robredo to withdraw all her camp’s motions on the electoral case, and he would also withdraw his motions.

Robredo won over Marcos by more than 263,000 votes in the 2016 polls. (PNA)