Duterte unlikely to quit because Bongbong won’t win protest, Leni’s lawyer says

Vice President Leni Robredo's team expressed confidence in the face of Malacañang's statement that President Rodrigo Duterte will step down if former senator Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos wins his poll protest against her.

"Insofar as we are concerned, President Duterte's resignation will never happen because Mr. Marcos will never win his electoral protest," said Robredo's lead lawyer, Romulo Macalintal, in a statement.

This is the Robredo camp's response to the president's preference for Marcos over the elected vice president, his constitutional successor.

“He [Duterte] has said that he thinks Senator Bongbong is one of the better qualified leader(s) to succeed him and if there’s development and he will win the protest and he becomes vice president, yes he will make true his word,” presidential spokesperson Harry Roque told reporters.

“That’s a conclusion that you can make because he says he’s willing to step down except that he does not think the constitutional successor is qualified,” he added.

Marcos is contesting Robredo's allegedly fraud-marred victory in the 2016 vice presidential race before the Supreme Court, sitting as the Presidential Electoral Tribunal.

His election protest is currently at the manual ballot recount stage, which, for now, covers over 5,000 clustered precincts from his three chosen pilot provinces: Camarines Sur, Iloilo, and Negros Oriental.

The results of this recount will determine whether or not Marcos' protest will proceed with the rest of the 31,047 contested clustered precincts.

There has been no official announcement of the partial results of the recount, a closed-door proceeding. —NB, GMA News