Tight VP race: Leni calls for calm

Liberal Party ( LP) vice presidential candidate Leni Robredo yesterday called for calm, describing as unfair insinuations that she is leading in the canvassing because of cheating.

Robredo said she worked hard to introduce herself to the public, noting she was virtually unknown at the start of the campaign period.

“I was in sixth place and I had one percent in the surveys. My figures climbed slowly and before the end of April, I was statistically tied with Senator Marcos,” Robredo said, referring to her rival Sen. Ferdinand Marcos Jr.

“When I was trailing, I never made allegations that the frontrunners were cheating. It would be unfair to make allegations that I could not substantiate,” she added.

Robredo said she is inter- ested to know how cheating could be done in an automated election.

“If there is cheating, I would be the first one to oppose that. For now, I cannot imagine how cheating can take place,” she said, adding she is interested to know the specific allegation as it seems hard to cheat because there is almost no human intervention.

Earlier, the Marcos camp asked the Commission on Elections and the Parish Pastoral Council for Responsible Voting to stop the unofficial canvassing of votes, claiming there were glitches that reduced the senator’s lead.

The Marcos camp said the unofficial count should be halted to avoid conflict with the official one.

Robredo does not want the unofficial canvassing stopped, saying it is a way to prevent cheating.

“It would be better to have an independent quick count because it can provide some sort of check and balance. I do not know the basis of his allegation of cheating,” she said, referring to Marcos.

Robredo said the canvassing results are consistent with the pre-election surveys.

“Let me emphasize that there was a point that I was the cellar dweller. We were depressed but we did not make unfair accusations. We did not say that Sen. Marcos was cheating. It would be unfair because I won’t be able to substantiate it,” she said.

Support Duterte admin

Robredo said she would give her full support to the administration of Davao Mayor Rodrigo Duterte, who is waiting for his formal proclamation as the next president.

She said the support she committed to her runningmate, Liberal Party bet Mar Roxas, would be the same.

“It is apparent that people have chosen Mayor Duterte as our next president. He deserves my 100 percent support – this is good for the country,” Robredo told reporters yesterday.

She said she would not compromise her principles just to get along with the mayor, who has been linked to human rights violations, including summary killings.

“I’m not a compromising person. I’ll give my support but that does not extend to things that are unlawful. I’ll stand my ground even if he is president. I won’t tolerate any wrongdoing,” Robredo said.

W. Visayas delivers for Mar, Leni

Western Visayas proved to be a stronghold of the MarLeni tandem, after the team dominated the elections in the region, which is composed of five provinces.

Based on the partial unofficial results covering 92.04 percent of election returns, Roxas got 1,136,329 votes.

He is followed by Sen. Grace Poe with 296,022 votes; Duterte, 273,679; Vice President Jejomar Binay, 121,695; Sen. Miriam Defensor-Santiago, 78,667 and the late Roy Señeres, 1,465 votes.

Roxas obtained 240,197 votes in Capiz, his hometown. Duterte placed second with 31,750 votes.

In Iloilo, Roxas got 637,848 votes, while Poe obtained 161,445 votes.

The province of Aklan gave Mar an overwhelming advantage with 124,096. Both Duterte and Poe got more than 49,000 votes.

In Antique, Roxas failed to widen his gap after garnering 88,399 votes as against Poe’s 54,017. Duterte got 41,353 votes.

The island province of Guimaras gave Roxas 45,789 votes while Binay placed second with 11,088.

Negros Island Region also proved to be Roxas’ turf, giving him 900,314 votes as against Duterte’s 423,382.

Based on initial count, the votes from Western Visayas spelled a difference for Robredo’s candidacy, where she garnered 1,200,153 votes.

Her closest rival, Marcos, got only 258,843.

Robredo obtained 684,265 votes in Iloilo, while Marcos got 124,393.

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