PET suspended recount in Marcos protest vs. Leni, lawyers say

The Supreme Court has indefinitely suspended the manual vote recount proceedings in Ferdinand Marcos Jr.'s election protest against Vice President Leni Robredo, lawyers of both parties said on Tuesday.

Two sources, however, denied that the SC, sitting as the Presidential Electoral Tribunal, ordered such a suspension. "Fake news," the two said in separate text messages to GMA News Online. The SC later clarified the matter.

Bernadette Sardillo, one of Robredo's lawyers, said the Vice President's camp has been informed by their revisors—the persons who conduct the recount—that the proceedings at "remaining precincts" have been "suspended."

No reason was given for the development.

Marcos' spokesman Vic Rodriguez said the PET announced the suspension, which was supposedly "effective 'until further notice'" on Monday morning.

On the heels of the confusion, the court's Public Information Office (PIO) released a statement indicating the PET is spending a week -- not an indefinite period of time -- to prepare for another step in the revision.

The PIO said the revision of most ballots from Marcos' three pilot provinces of Camarines Sur, Iloilo and Negros Oriental was completed on Monday, January 21.

"The revision proceedings for the remaining ballot boxes and decrypted ballot images will continue on January 28, 2019," the PIO said.

"In the interim, the Tribunal shall prepare for the use of decrypted ballot images in the revision proceedings."

Despite opposition from Marcos, the PET maintained last year that revisors should refer to decrypted ballot images in cases where the original paper ballots are wet, damaged, or unreadable.

The rare status update by the PET confirms a claim by Robredo's lead lawyer, Romulo Macalintal, who said last week that revisors had finished the recount of ballots from contested poll precincts in the three provinces except for those that were wet or otherwise could no longer be counted.

The recount is an initial stage in Marcos' challenge to Robredo's victory in the 2016 vice presidential race.

The results of the recount will determine whether or not the case will proceed to Marcos' 31,047 remaining contested clustered precincts. —NB, GMA News