More wet ballots, grass found in Naga

Former Senator Ferdinand ‘Bongbong’ Marcos Jr. and Vice President Maria Leonor ‘Leni’ Robredo. (Photo courtesy: Bongbong Marcos Facebook page and Office of the Vice President via PNA)

As the recount of the Vice Presidential elections in 2016 continues, the camp of former senator Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos, Jr. said that they found questionable ballot boxes in the hometown of the Vice President.

After getting hold of wet ballot boxes in the towns of Bato and Baao in Camarines Sur, Marcos’ camp found another set in Naga City. His camp further said that there were cut grasses found inside the boxes.

Through his spokesperson Vic Rodriguez, Marcos’ stand on the recent discovery meant confirmation of their allegation against Vice President Maria Leonor “Leni” Robredo.

“With the discovery of extra votes added to Robredo in clustered precinct in Bato, Camarines Sur and the wet ballots in several clustered precincts, we are convinced that more evidence of fraud, ballot box tampering and vote padding are to come out validating our case that the 2016 election for vice president is the worse in history,” Rodriguez said through a statement.

The Vice Presidential voting recount started on April 2, last Monday and is part of the electoral protest of the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos’ son.

Marcos was quick to react on the very first day of the recount, saying that 38 of the 40 boxes in the town of Bato lacked audit logs.

“It was because somebody might have opened the poll boxes,” the former senator alleged.

“At the outset of the recount, we already discovered these missing audit logs. They couldn’t tell where those audit logs went. This means somebody opened the ballot boxes and took the audit logs before closing them again,” he added.

Robredo’s camp through her legal counsel, Lawyer Romulo Macalintal, dismissed this.

“How could wet ballots be evidence of election fraud? Eh nangyayari ‘yan hindi lang sa (But these happen not only in) Camarines Sur but also in other areas. These are common occurrences na hindi dapat mabigla si (that) Mr. Marcos (should not be surprised about),” he said.