PET asks Robredo to answer Marcos protest
The Presidential Electoral Tribunal (PET), composed of all the 15 justices of the Supreme Court (SC), has ordered Vice President Ma. Leonor Robredo to answer the election protest filed against her by former Sen. Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr.
In a resolution released yesterday based on the PET’s deliberation last July 12, the tribunal said Vice President Robredo should answer the protest within 10 days from
receipt of the summons.
At the same time, the PET directed the Commission on Elections (Comelec) to:
“Preserve and safeguard the integrity of all the ballot boxes and their contents, including the ballots, voters’ receipts and election returns; the lists of voters, particularly the Election Day Computerized Voters’ List (EDCVL), and Voters Registration Records (VRRs), and the Book of Voters; the audit logs, transmission logs, and all log files; and all other documents or paraphernalia used in the May 2016 elections for the position of Vice President of the Republic of the Philippines, including the automated election equipment and records such as the Vote Counting Machines (VCM), Consolidation and Canvass System (CCs) units, Secure Digital (SD) cards (main and back up), and the other data storage devices in all of the ninety-two thousand five hundred nine (92,509) clustered precincts used in the May, 2016, elections, effective immediately and continuing until further orders from this Tribunal.”
Marcos’ election protest was filed last June 29. In his protest, he asked the PET to set aside Robredo’s proclamation and to declare him the duly elected vice president.
The PET, in its summons, said Marcos raised two grounds in his protest, namely:
1. “The proclamation of Robredo as the duly elected vice president is null and void because the Certificates of Canvass (COCs) generated by the Consolidation and Canvass System (CCS) are not authentic and may not be used as basis to determine the number of votes that the candidates for vice president received.
2. “Massive electoral fraud, anomalies, and irregularities, such as terrorism, violence, force, threats, intimidation, pre-shading of ballots, vote-buying, substitution of voters, flying voters, preloaded SD cards, misreading of ballots; unexplained, irregular, and improper rejection of ballots, malfunctioning of VCMs, and abnormally high unaccounted votes/ undervotes for the position of vice president affected the results in 25 provinces and five highly urbanized cities consisting of 39,221 clustered precincts (protested precincts).”
Through lawyer George Garcia, Marcos sought the issuance of a precautionary order to compel the Comelec, city and municipal treasurers, Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP), and technology providers Smartmatic-Total Information Management (TIM) Corporation, to preserve the integrity and safety of all the ballot boxes and their contents the lists of voters, particularly the Election Day Computerized Voter’s List (EDCVL), and voters registration records (VRRs), and the books of voters.
He pointed out that the order from the PET should also cover the other partners and providers of Comelec. He identified these as the telecommunication companies, IP Converge Data Services, Inc., and all data centers, Smart Communications, Inc., Globe Telecom, Inc., PLDT, Inc., Digitel Mobile Philippines, Inc.
He said the issuance of a precautionary order is allowed under Rule 36 of the PET rules.
At the same time, Marcos wanted to secure the audit logs, transmission logs, and all log files; and all other documents or paraphernalia used in the elections, including the automated election equipment and records such as the Vote Counting Machines (VCM), Consolidation and Canvass System (CCS) units, Secure Digital (SD) cards (main and back up), and the other data storage devices containing electronic data and ballot images, evidencing the conduct and the results of the elections in all of the 92,509 clustered precincts that were used in the May 9nNational and local elections.
He reiterated that his request for a precautionary order had been incorporated in the election protest he filed last June 29.
In his election protest, Marcos challenged the election results in 39,221 clustered precincts in 25 provinces and five cities in the country.
He included in his 1,000page petition 20,000 pages of affidavits, certificates of canvass (COCs), and other documents to support his claim of fraud in the May 9 national and local elections.