Beyond a shadow of a doubt

“Wet ballots” and “audit logs” are becoming household phrases as the manual recount of votes in the vice presidential race in 2016 gets underway. The camp of Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr., which sought the recount, is claiming fraud in the race that saw him losing by a narrow margin of 219,127 votes to Leni Robredo.

The fraud allegations are expected from any candidate seeking a vote recount. Robredo, who ran under the Liberal Party, has denied winning the nation’s highest post through cheating.

On the first day of the recount, Marcos questioned the wet ballots and missing audit logs from 38 out of 40 ballot boxes from Bato town in Robredo’s home province of Camarines Sur, as discovered by revisers involved in the recount.

Yesterday, four revisers of the Supreme Court, sitting as the Presidential Electoral Tribunal, quit for still unspecified reasons. The camps of both Robredo and Marcos expressed concern over the resignations, particularly in the possible delay that might result.

With Marcos contesting the results in only three pilot provinces, the recount is expected to be completed quickly. Obviously, the most important requirement in the recount is credibility. This is the first manual review of votes since the restoration of democracy in 1986, and its outcome will have a major impact on political stability.

While Marcos was the running mate of the late senator Miriam Defensor-Santiago, he and his family are known to be close to President Duterte. In several public engagements, the President has cited Marcos’ eldest sister Imee as one of a handful of individuals who supported his bid for the nation’s top post in 2016.

Robredo, on the other hand, belongs to the ruling party in the previous administration, toward which the President has shown undisguised disdain. The Vice President was eased out of the Cabinet and there are no indications that she would be recruited again. This is a politically charged recount, especially because the only son and namesake of the late dictator is directly involved. The outcome of the recount must not be tainted by any shadow of a doubt.