MANILA, Philippines - Vice President Leni Robredo has denied delaying the poll protest filed against her by rival former senator Ferdinand Marcos Jr.
She said it was in her interest that this case be solved immediately to put to rest questions on her mandate.
“For me, it would be good (if the Presidential Election Tribunal) will start the recount. Because until the issue is resolved, it would only give Marcos’ supporters the right to claim that he’s the real vice president,” Robredo said in an interview with dzMM on Tuesday.
Marcos has asked the Supreme Court, sitting as the PET, to junk Robredo’s motion for reconsideration on its ruling allowing his poll protest to proceed.
“I think it is bad logic to think that I’m the one who doesn’t want the recount to happen,” she said.
Robredo also blamed the Marcos camp for the delays in the resolution of the case, noting that even if it filed the case in July 2016, their motion for the setting of the preliminary conference was only filed last January.
Marcos urged PET to order the immediate collection, retrieval, transport and delivery of ballot boxes from all 36,465 clustered precincts during the May 9, 2016 elections and to proceed with the preliminary conference.
Robredo defeated Marcos by around 200,000 votes.
After Robredo’s proclamation, the Marcos camp filed a protest and called for a recount, claiming voting irregularities in 662 poll precincts.
“His protest covers 662 municipalities but how come the affidavits they submitted only cover 57 voting precincts,” she said.
“So where are the affidavits for the rest?” Robredo asked.
Aside from Marcos’ protest, Robredo is facing impeachment threat over her video message at a recent United Nations side event, where she revealed police abuses in the government’s drug war.
Oliver Lozano and Melchor Chavez, known supporters of Marcos’ father and namesake, have filed an impeachment complaint against Robredo in the House of Representatives, accusing her of committing “acts of injustice” when she spread “fake news” about the Philippines in the UN video.
Source : PhilStar