No SC action yet on results of Bongbong-Leni vote recount

The Supreme Court has yet to decide on the results of the concluded recount and revision of ballots from three provinces involved in former senator Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr.'s election protest against Vice President Leni Robredo.

Associate Justice Alfredo Benjamin Caguioa, the justice in charge of the case, on Monday submitted a report on the results of the ballot recount to the members of the SC, sitting as the Presidential Electoral Tribunal (PET), SC spokesman Brian Keith Hosaka said Tuesday.

"However, the tribunal has not taken any action yet on the said report of Justice Caguioa," Hosaka said at a press briefing, adding he has not seen the report and therefore could not describe its contents.

But Chief Justice Lucas Bersamin last week said he expected the report, which then had yet to be submitted, to be "voluminous."

The ballot recount covered 5,415 election precincts in three pilot provinces chosen by Marcos: Camarines Sur, Iloilo and Negros Oriental. The results of the recount will determine whether or not the case will proceed to Marcos' remaining contested voting precincts.

Robredo's lead lawyer, Romulo Macalintal, said he believes the PET has to adopt the findings of the Hearing Commissioners, or the lawyers tasked by the tribunal to receive evidence. He also maintained the Robredo camp's stance that the recount results affirmed her 2016 election victory.

Meanwhile, the PET reminded the parties that they are "strictly ordered to refrain from making any public statements to the media with regard to the case," Hosaka said.

Marcos, who lost to Robredo in the 2016 elections, has been contesting the vice president's victory for three years, halfway into her term.

Bersamin acknowledged the "impatience" of the public regarding the case, but said the tribunal has to be "very careful" in deciding it. —KBK/RSJ, GMA News