VICE-PRESIDENT Maria Leonor “Leni” G. Robredo on Tuesday expressed confidence that she will win the election recount, saying that no cheating was involved in the 2016 polls and that losing candidate Ferdinand “Bongbong” R. Marcos, Jr. knows this.
“He knows there was no cheating,” Ms. Robredo, speaking in Filipino, said in an interview on the sidelines of an elementary school visit in Navotas City.
The vice-president said she is simply surprised that Mr. Marcos, son of the late dictator Ferdinand E. Marcos, is prepared to “spend” and “lie” just to get what he wants.
Mr. Marcos on Monday asked the Supreme Court (SC), acting as the Presidential Electoral Tribunal (PET), to uphold its ruling on a 50% shading threshold in the ballots, citing that the Commission on Elections (Comelec) did not state that it imposed a 25% threshold rule during the 2016 elections.
“That’s not true. They (Comelec) used a 50% threshold in 2010, but it was 20% in 2013. It was 25% for 2016… He is lying because records will show,” Ms. Robredo said.
The PET denied in an April 10 ruling Ms. Robredo’s plea to use the 25% threshold.
“This did not come out of thin air, the Comelec can verify this,” she added.
The vice-president, a lawyer, also stressed that the essence of setting a threshold is to ensure that votes in the ballots are read and counted by the system.
“But what is more important,” she said, is “the right of the Filipinos to vote through a democratic process.
Twisting the legalities and facts, she continued, means disenfranchising the “choice of the people.” — Dane Angelo M. Enerio

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