‘Bluffing, no-show’ Bongbong signed wrong pleading —Robredo lawyer

Former senator Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr. signed the wrong pleading indicating his supposed withdrawal of all motions that could delay recount proceedings that are part of his election protest, said Vice President Leni Robredo's lawyer on Wednesday.

For Robredo counsel Romulo Macalintal, that Marcos signed a "joint manifestation," instead of a "joint motion," meant he was "merely bluffing" when he dared his opponent's camp to withdraw all pending motions before the Supreme Court, sitting as the Presidential Electoral Tribunal.

The defeated vice presidential candidate on Tuesday signed a joint manifestation and his lawyer said they would serve a copy for signature to Robredo's group. Macalintal said he was not signing this document.

Robredo's camp had invited Marcos to attend a press conference in Manila earlier in the day where they were supposed to sign the joint motion on the withdrawal, but the former senator and his counsel failed to show up.

"A motion is a pleading where a party asks the court to grant him the relief or remedies or what he wants from the court. A 'manifestation' is merely a pleading wherein the party merely makes a representation or statement which the court may just take note of without any action at all," Macalintal said in a statement, citing a high court decision.

"This is contrary to what he has been claiming and asking that we should file a joint motion," he said at the press event.

Macalintal admitted, however, that he did not know if this was "intentional" or just an "error" on the part of the former senator.

In the Robredo camp's own version of the motion, the Vice President maintained that she has no such pending motions.

It was Marcos, the document said, who had lodged a partial motion for reconsideration before the PET in December 4, 2017, which supposedly asked the tribunal to reconsider its resolution that allowed Robredo to secure soft copies of ballot images and other related data.

Robredo's motion called on the PET to consider "withdrawn or abandoned" all motions pending before it "which may delay the recount proceedings."

In a text message, Marcos lawyer Vic Rodriguez, said:

"Enough of ‘palusot’ and gimmicks. The signed Joint Manifestation was delivered this morning in the office of Mrs. Robredo's counsel. The choice is [hers, whether] to sign or not. Either way she must decide and we are waiting," he said.

Marcos lost to Robredo by 263,473 votes in the May 2016 election. — MDM, GMA News