Macalintal on Bongbong claim 2016 poll results weren’t ‘proper’: He can’t accept losing

Election lawyer Romulo Macalintal on Wednesday refuted Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr.’s claim that he was cheated by rival Leni Robredo in the 2016 vice presidential race, pointing out that the Supreme Court unanimously junked his poll protest last year.

"Iyong sinasabi ni Mr. Marcos na nadaya siya noong 2016 at ang pagkakapanalo ng Vice President ay dahil sa daya, iyan po'y walang katotohanan," Macalintal, Robredo's lawyer during the election protest, said in a statement.

(Marcos' remark that he was cheated in 2016 and that Robredo’s victory was due to deception, is false.)

"Iyang mga statement na iyan ni Mr. Marcos, iyan ang sinasabi nating statement ng mga kandidatong hindi marunong tumanggap ng pagkatalo," he added.

(Those statements by Mr. Marcos, are what we call statements of candidates who can't accept defeat.)

Marcos earlier claimed that his camp had proven that the 2016 results were wrong. "Even if hindi kami nanalo sa protesta [Even if we didn't win the protest], I think we’ve proven that it wasn’t the proper results," he said.

Macalintal said Marcos lost in the counting of votes following the ballot recount before the Presidential Electoral Tribunal (PET).

In February 2021, the Supreme Court, sitting as the PET, dismissed for lack of merit the election protest filed by Marcos against Robredo over the results of the 2016 race.

Robredo beat Marcos by 263,473 votes in the 2016 polls.

Her lead increased by 15,000 after a manual recount in three provinces—Iloilo, Camarines Sur, and Negros Oriental—chosen by Marcos as a result of the filed protest.

“Nang binilang ang mga balota mula sa mga presinto na kanyang iprinotesta, walang nakitang ebidenisya ng pandaraya. Nagtugma ang physical count ng mga balota doon sa election returns ng automated election,” Macalintal said.

(When the ballots were counted from the precincts he protested, no evidence of fraud was found. The physical count of the ballots there matched the election returns of the automated election.)

“Iyan ang pagpapatunay na hindi po nadaya si Mr. Marcos noong 2016 elections kundi talagang nanalo po si Vice President Leni Robredo laban sa kanya,” he added.

(That is the proof that Marcos was not deceived in the 2016 elections but Vice President Leni Robredo really won against him.)

He also debunked Marcos’ claim that vote-counting machines used were “defective” after he and Robredo gained additional votes after the recount.

According to Macalintal, some voters used a check mark to indicate their votes instead of shading the oval. He, however, said that these votes were not tallied by the counting machines but were counted during the recount by PET.

“Kaya po nagkaroon ng sinasabi ni Mr. Marcos na nadagdagan sila ng ilang libong boto, dahilan sa marami ring mga botante ang naglagay ng check mark sa kanilang mga balota,” Macalintal furthered.

(That's why Mr. Marcos said that they increased by several thousand votes, because many voters also put a check mark on their ballots.)

GMA News Online has sought comment from the Marcos camp, which has not replied as of posting time.

Marcos also said he spent the last six years studying the country's automated election system, adding that he now knew its weaknesses.

He then called on Filipinos to guard their votes regardless of for whom they were voting. — BM, GMA News