Robredo tells SC: Marcos should pay P2 billion for VCM maintenance
THE CAMP of Vice-President Maria Leonor G. Robredo on Tuesday said former Senator and defeated candidate Ferdinand “Bongbong” R. Marcos, Jr. should pay P2.08 billion for the maintenance of Vote Counting Machines ( VCM)s.
In a statement released yesterday, Ms. Robredo’s lawyers, Romulo P. Macalintal and Maria Bernadette Sardillo, said: “[ Mr. Marcos] must shoulder any amount that the Commissions on Elections (Comelec) may be required to pay on account of his election protest.”
Ms. Robredo’s lawyers filed a nine-page manifestation yesterday before the Supreme Court ( SC) sitting as the Presidential Electoral Tribunal (PET).
“Protestee Robredo seeks clarification on who will be liable for the P2,078,304,255.76, representing the cost of the VCMs leased and used during the May 9, 2016 National and Local Elections,” the manifestation reads.
Ms. Robredo’s camp prays that the tribunal should “[direct] the [Comelec] to clarify whether protestant Marcos on account of this Election Protest will be held liable for the P2,078,304,255.76 under the [Automated Election Systems ( AES)] Contracts,” the camp added.
It also recalled the Comelec informing the tribunal that the commission may be required to pay the said total.
Ms. Robredo’s camp said it did not have any objections to the turnover of the VCMs to Smartmatic.
“Consequently, protestee [Ms.] Robredo should not be held liable for the P2,078,304,255.76 under the AES Contracts,” the Robredo camp’s manifestation reads in part.
The Tribunal has set the preliminary conference on the electoral and counter- electoral protest on July 11, 2 p.m.
The case stemmed from an electoral protest filed by Mr. Marcos after losing in the vicepresidential race by a slim margin of about 260,000 votes to Ms. Robredo, preceded by his lead of almost a million votes early in the election count.