THE camp of former Sen. Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. on Tuesday asked the Supreme Court acting as the Presidential Electoral Tribunal (PET) to immediately act on its motion for the conduct of a technical examination of voting records in precincts in Lanao del Sur, Maguindanao and Basilan where cheating allegedly took place in the 2016 elections.
In an urgent motion, Marcos lawyer George Garcia said it is now ripe for the Court to resolve his motion considering the findings of the Voters Identification Division of the Commission on Elections (Comelec) that the 2016 national, local and Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) elections were tainted by fraud, as indicated in the electoral protest filed by Abdusakur Tan against ARMM Gov. Mujiv Hataman.
Marcos filed in December the motion to conduct technical examinations in precincts in the said provinces even though they are outside Camarines Sur, Iloilo and Negros Oriental—the three provinces Marcos previously claimed as best showing fraud in the 2016 elections.
“It is humbly submitted that it would be the height of injustice if this Honorable Tribunal simply turned a blind eye on the massive substituted voting, which amended the 2016 national, local and ARMM elections in the provinces of Maguindanao, Lanao del Sur and Basilan,” the motion read.
Countering Vice President Leni Robredo’s claim that his motion will unduly expand his pilot protested provinces and has no leg to stand on, Marcos said his motion was prompted by “very significant supervening event, which is the findings of the Voters Identification Division of Comelec.
“This development is a matter of transcendental importance not only to protestant Marcos but to the entire Filipino electorate considering that what is involved is the integrity and legitimacy of the election results for the position of vice president, which is the second-highest Executive position in the Philippines,” Garcia said.
A technical examination involves the comparison of signatures and thumbprints of voters in the Voters’ Registration Records (VRRs) as against the Election Day Computerized Voters’ List (EDCVL) of the entire 2,756 protested clustered precincts of Lanao del Sur, Maguindanao and Basilan in connection with the May 9, 2016, national and local elections.
Marcos asked the PET to subpoena relevant documents and investigate chairmen and members of the Board of Election Inspectors in the said provinces, and to order the poll body to produce and submit the questioned documents dated June 5, 2018, and other relevant documents involving the technical examination conducted on the VRRs, as against the EDCVLs of 508 established precincts in the said provinces during the 2016 polls.
Robredo’s camp opposed the motion, saying it goes against the rules of the PET prohibiting the introduction of additional clustered precincts outside of Camarines Sur, Iloilo and Negros Oriental.
1 comment
Thanks for sharing. 🙂