Vice President Maria Leonor “Leni” Robredo widened her lead by some 15,000 votes in the recount of the 2016 election results in three provinces requested by the losing candidate, ex-senator Ferdinand Marcos Jr.
Vice President Maria Leonor “Leni” Robredo widened her lead by some 15,000 votes in the recount of the 2016 election results in three provinces requested by the losing candidate, ex-senator Ferdinand Marcos Jr.
The result of the “revision” of votes cast in the three pilot provinces, Negros Oriental, Camarines Sur and Iloilo, all handpicked by Marcos in his electoral protest, was released Friday night by the Supreme Court sitting as the Presidential Electorail Tribunal. The recount covered a total of 5,415 clustered precincts.
“Thus, based on the final tally after revision and appreciation of the votes in the pilot provinces, protestee Robredo maintained, as in fact she increased, her lead with 14,436,337 votes over protestant Marcos who obtained 14,157,771 votes,” the PET said in a resolution dated Oct. 15.
“After the revision and appreciation, the lead of protestee Robredo increased from 263,473 to 278,566,” it added.
The tribunal will still have to decide whether Marcos’s protest will proceed given the results. PET rules state that the protest may be dismissed if the pilot recount fails to overturn the results.
Marcos wants to expand the recount to three more provinces — Lanao del Sur, Basilan and Maguindanao, election hotspots in Mindanao.
Robredo’s spokesman, Barry Gutierrez, urged Marcos to accept defeat.
“Klaro na talo si Marcos sa recount ng mga probinsiyang pinili niya. Malinaw ang aming posisyon, sapat nang batayan ito para ibasura ang protesta (It’s clear Marcos lost in the recount in the provinces he had chosen. Our position is clear, this is enough basis to dismiss the protest),” he said in a statement.
“Ibabalik ko kay Ginoong Marcos ang isang paboritong sabihin ng pamilya nya: Move on na. Natalo ka, tanggapin mo na (I will return to Mr. Marcos a favorite expression of his family: Move on. You lost. Accept it),” he said. (PressONE.ph)