Bongbong’s camp vows to ‘scrutinize every COC’ for VP during canvassing 

The camp of Sen. Bongbong Marcos on Monday vowed to meticulously examine the processes of the upcoming canvassing of votes by Congress, amid the tight race between him and Camarines Sur Rep. Leni Robredo in the vice presidential race.

In a press statement, George Garcia, head of Marcos’ legal team, said while their team will not be causing any hindrance in the canvassing and proclamation of winner for the presidential post, the case will be different when it comes to the canvassing of votes for the second highest position in the country.

“Senator Bongbong Marcos and his entire Legal Team will never be a hindrance to a speedy canvass and immediate proclamation of our new President,” Garcia said.

“Filipinos have spoken. Their choice of Mayor [Rodrigo] Duterte is clear and unequivocal. Respect for this mandate is of primary importance,” he added.

The Senate and the House of Representatives are set to convene on Tuesday in a joint session to lay out the rules during the canvassing of votes for the presidential and vice presidential positions.

The Congress, sitting as the National Board of Canvassers (NBOC), will formally begin the canvassing of votes on May 25, Wednesday.

Garcia said that with the tight race between Marcos and Robredo, their camp will scrutinize every certificate of canvass (COC) to be opened for the first time by the NBOC.

“However, we vow to scrutinize each and every COC for Vice President and highlight the impossibility of the partial unofficial result,” he said.

“This is an exercise of a right and our solemn obligation to the millions who supported Senator Marcos and those whose votes were not counted and were disenfranchised,” he added.

Marcos’ camp had earlier claimed that the senator has been leading by more than 100,000 votes against Robredo based on 100 out of 108 COCs from provinces and chartered cities nationwide that their camp has internally tallied.

The claim of Marcos’ team was contrary to what was reflected in the partial and unofficial tally of the Commission on Elections  (Comelec), where Robredo has been leading by about 200,000 votes.

Robredo’s camp recently stated that with the current Comelec tally, her victory is already in the bag even if all the remaining votes that have yet to be counted were credited to Marcos.

The Comelec tally was stopped on May 18 with 96.14 percent or 90,635 out of 94, 276 election returns (ERs) counted.

Based on the Comelec tally as of 7:45 p.m. on May 18, Robredo got 14,023,093 votes while Marcos got 13,803,966.

Marcos’ camp had earlier revealed that a new script or computer command was introduced to the Comelec transparency server on evening of May 9, while the counting of votes was ongoing.

Marcos’ camp had insinuated that the introduction of the new script might have affected the counting of votes by the Comelec, as it was supposedly after the incident that his lead of over one million votes against Robredo began to diminish until the latter took over the lead past 3 a.m. on May 10.

Marcos is set to be represented by former Comelec chairman Sixto Brillantes during the NBOC’s canvassing while Robredo will be represented by Romulo Macalintal.

The two top elections lawyer of the country faced off in 2004 during the canvassing of votes for the presidential post, with Brillantes then representing the late actor Fernando Poe Jr. while Macalintal then-President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo. —KBK, GMA News