Duterte: What's the status of the VP poll recount?

President Rodrigo Duterte expressed curiosity about the status of recount of votes in the 2016 vice presidential election involving incumbent Leni Robredo and former Senator Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr.

Marcos' electoral protest is pending before the Supreme Court, sitting as the Presidential Electoral Tribunal, which is currently doing a manual recount of the votes in select areas.

The ballot recount covers the three pilot provinces of Camarines Sur, Iloilo and Negros Oriental chosen by Marcos as the best provinces where he could prove irregularities alleged in his protest.

"Ano bang latest count nito kay Bongbong, pati kay ano? Ma-vice president ba talaga ‘yan," Duterte said in a speech in Malacañang on Monday night, as his thoughts trailed off.

Duterte is a political ally of the Marcoses, whose patriarch, the late strongman Ferdinand Marcos, was laid to rest at the Libingan ng mga Bayani on November 18, 2016 following support from Duterte himself and later, the SC.

Robredo's camp had said that under the PET Rules, if Marcos could not prove any substantial recovery of votes from the three pilot provinces, the former senator’s protest will be dismissed for lack of merit.

Marcos lost to Robredo by 263,473 votes in the May 2016 election which the former senator claimed was marred by fraud. —JST, GMA News