Ex-lawmaker claims Robredo lost 21k votes so far into PET recount

Former Biliran representative and IT expert Glenn Chong on Saturday claimed that Vice President Leni Robredo has lost some 21,000 votes one month into the  manual recount under a poll protest that challenges her May 2016 victory.

"Ang totoo po niyan, natanggal po talaga 'yun sa bilang... the 21,000 votes have been actually removed from the tally of nung nakaupong vice president si Leni. Nabawasan po talaga siya ng 21,000 votes," Chong, a member of election watchdog Reform Philippines Coalition, said at a forum in quezon City.

He claimed that the information came from the revisors of the Presidential Electoral Tribunal (PET), whom he has personal communications with.

Also, he said that the PET's ruling that the threshold for a valid vote is at least 50-percent shade of the ballot oval, was a factor in Robredo's vote loss. 

However, Chong admitted that the PET has still to officially rule on the issue.

Robredo earlier dismissed as "fake news" the information indicating that her lead against her rival Bongbong Marcos shrank by over 21,000 votes. 

Robredo defeated Marcos in the 2016 election by 263,473 votes, a victory the former senator claims being marred by electoral fraud.

After a failed first attempt, the vice president's team is trying to convince the PET to direct its revisors —PET-hired employees leading the recount —to count as valid votes the ballot ovals shaded at least 25 percent, a claim she said is backed by a Commission on Elections (Comelec) resolution.

Supporters of the Vice President also urged the poll body  to allow the 25-percent threshold for ballot shading amid the ongoing manual recount of 2016 votes for vice president.  —LBG, GMA News