Leni still P1.4M short of her poll protest dues

VICE President Maria Leonor “Leni” Robredo still needs P1.4 million in order to pay her P7.4 million protest dues.

Members of the Piso Para sa Laban ni Leni fund- raising campaign, in a statement on Monday, said they collected P6 million in two months from at least 25,000 supporters.

Robredo’s counter- protest dues are valued at P15.4 million because she is questioning results in 8,042 clustered precincts composed of 31,278 established precincts.

Former Sen. Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr., on the other hand, already paid P66 million in full for his protest on election results in 39,221 clustered precincts composed of 132,446 established precincts.

“Our movement is a testament how Filipinos from all over the country value and want to protect their votes,” Museo Pambata founder Cristina LimYuson, a leader of the Piso Para sa Laban ni Leni initiative, said in the statement.

“We will continue to ask support until we reach the amount needed,” Yuson added.

The Anti-Graft Law, the Code of Conduct and Ethical Standards for Decree 46 prohibit Robredo from receiving donations in the course - nection with any operation being regulated by, or any transaction of the Vice President.

Yuson and the rest of Robredo’s supporters are arguing, however, that it is their right to make donations to Robredo based on their constitutional right to suffrage and the right to protect the outcome of exercising such right.

That outcome, they said, is their vote for Robredo.

Other leaders of the Piso Para sa Laban ni Leni campaign include Robredo’s fellow Ten Outstanding Women in Nation’s Service (Towns) awardees namely: former Pag-IBIG Fund Chief Execu former human rights commissioner Paulynn Sicam, award- winning singer Celeste Legaspi-Gallardo, Ateneo de Manila University Press director Karina Bolasco, and former Social Welfare Sec- retary Corazon Soliman.

The campaign leaders have the Supreme Court, serving as Presidential Electoral Tribunal, to allow them to make donations for Robredo’s poll protest.

The electoral tribunal, however, is yet to decide on this petition.

It has already extended the deadline for the payment of Robredo’s remaining counter- poll protest dues for an unlimited time, pending the results of the recount of votes in Camarines Sur, Negros Oriental and Iloilo as sought by Marcos.

Robredo beat Marcos in these three provinces and beat him in the overall tally by 263,473 votes in the May 2016 elections.