Robredo questions 'leakage' of poll logs to Glenn Chong

The lawyers of Vice President Leni Robredo have asked the Supreme Court, sitting as the Presidential Electoral Tribunal (PET), to investigate the alleged leakage of poll audit logs to a former congressman.

Robredo's legal counsels on Tuesday asked for a probe into how former Biliran representative Glenn Chong, who claims to have no connection to the parties in the Marcos-Robredo poll protest case, came to possess audit logs from Ragay town, Camarines Sur.

They are also questioning how Chong obtained copies of pleadings and PET resolutions — which he had posted on his Facebook page — as regards former senator Ferdinand Marcos Jr.'s challenge to Robredo's victory in the 2016 election.

"Atty. Chong is not a party to this election protest. Meanwhile, by his own denials, Atty. Chong is not and has never been a counsel for protestant Marcos. And, if Atty. Chong were to be believed, he never at any point, represented protestant Marcos," the 35-page court filing said.

"Thus, how was Atty. Chong able to secure copies of the pleadings and resolutions of the Honorable Tribunal," it added.

Chong was a resource speaker at a Senate hearing on electoral reforms last August 7, where he presented copies of audit logs from Ragay, Camarines Sur that purportedly revealed early transmission activity.

During the same hearing, he denied representing Marcos, prompting Robredo's lawyers to ask, in their PET filing, where Chong got the data.

Chong had said the records came from the Senate Electoral Tribunal (SET). 

However, Robredo's lawyers said Camarines Sur is not part of the poll protest filed by former Metropolitan Manila Development Authority chairman Francis Tolentino before the SET; and that the Commission on Elections never submitted data from Ragay to the SET.

The Robredo camp also alleged that Chong was present during activities that party representatives were supposedly allowed to observe, as well as during the preliminary conference hearing on the case.

"From the foregoing, it clearly appears that there is no truth to Atty. Chong's self-serving claim that he is an advocate for clean election — his advocacy, if ever is limited to his fellow loser in election, i.e., the protestant, who like Atty. Chong cannot accept defeat in good grace," the filing said.

Robredo narrowly defeated Marcos in the May 2016 vice presidential race, a victory the latter claims was marred by fraud.

Marcos filed a poll protest before the PET, which is spearheading a recount of votes from Camarines Sur, Iloilo, and Negros Oriental. —JST, GMA News