Marcos' bid to void results in 3 ARMM provinces against PET rules —Robredo

Former Senator Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. was attempting to defy Presidential Electoral Tribunal (PET) rules by seeking the nullification of election results in three Bangsamoro Region provinces despite his failure to recover a substantial number votes in three pilot provinces, Vice President Leni Robredo said Tuesday.

According to Robredo, the PET's Rule 65 stated that a poll protestor needed to first have a significant recovery of votes in at least three pilot provinces of his or her own choosing before his poll protest could proceed. Otherwise, the protest needed to be dismissed.

Robredo argued that Marcos could not change his chosen pilot provinces—namely Camarines Sur, Negros Oriental and Iloilo—simply because he failed to substantially recover votes in the three provinces he thought would best exemplify his poll fraud allegations.

“Kapag nilabas na ng committee iyong kanilang report, makikita niyo na walang substantial recovery. So talagang the only way to go is to dismiss the protest. Ngayon, ang gusto na naman ni Marcos, magkaroon na naman ng additional provinces sa ARMM. Eh dapat sana iyon na iyong pinili niya noong umpisa. Bakit hindi niya iyon pinili?,” the vice president pointed out.

“Ngayong wala siya doong nakuha, gusto na naman niyang maghanap sa iba. Ang sinasabi niya ngayon, parang, wala akong substantial recovery doon sa tatlo, pero puwede bang tingnan ulit itong... itong another three? This will go against Rule 65. Kasi sa Rule 65, talagang no more than three pilot provinces iyong pipiliin,” Robredo added.

The PET on Tuesday ordered the release of the Committee Report on the manual recount of votes in three pilot provinces chosen by Marcos.

But at the same time, the PET also asked both the Robredo and Marcos to comment on Marcos’ motion to nullify the results in Lanao del Sur, Maguindanao, and Basilan.

Two Supreme Court justices, Antonio Carpio and Benjamin Caguioa, dissented on the ruling requiring both camps to file a comment on Marcos’ motion to nullify the results in Lanao del Sur, Maguindanao and Basilan by arguing that Marcos did not have substantial recovery of votes in pilot provinces and as such, his protest against Robredo should be dismissed.

“Iyon naman iyong posisyon namin mula sa umpisa: na walang ibang acceptable na desisyon, based sa Rule 65 and based sa results ng recount, kundi i-dismiss iyong petisyon. Pero gayunpaman, kami ay susunod,” Robredo said.

“Parati naming nirerespeto iyong Supreme Court. Parati kaming sumusunod sa order, iyong order na mag-file ng memorandum [sa motion ni Marcos], susundin namin within 20 days of receipt,” Robredo added.

Nevertheless, Robredo chided Marcos for accusing her of robbing him of the Vice Presidency.

“Nakakatawa naman na siya iyong nagsasabi noon. Kasi between the two of us, lahat ng na-achieve ko pinagpaguran ko. Wala akong fake diplomas. Hindi ako naglalabas ng fake news,” said Robredo .

“Dapat hindi niya kaya iyon sabihin kasi between the two of us, alam ko, hindi ako iyong robber.”

Bongbong Marcos is the son of the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos.

In 1995, a US Federal Court in Hawaii awarded $1.964 billion worth of the Marcos family’s ill-gotten assets to the victims of the human rights violations during 20-year dictatorship.

In 2003, the Supreme Court decision also ruled that the 10,000 claimants in the Hawaii case were entitled to compensation from the Marcos family's $10 billion Swiss bank deposits which were deemed ill-gotten by the High Court in the same ruling. — DVM, GMA News