By Dane Angelo M. Enerio
THE Supreme Court (SC), acting as the Presidential Electoral Tribunal (PET), begins on Monday what it calls the revision of votes between Vice-President Maria Leonor “Leni” G. Robredo and her rival in the 2016 vice-presidential contest, former senator Ferdinand “Bongbong” R. Marcos, Jr.
Revision is the “process of verifying the physical count of the ballots; to recount the votes of the parties; and to record the objections or claims of the parties; to mark the ballots objected to or claimed by the parties,” according to PET spokesperson lawyer Jose Lemuel S. Arenas.
Ms. Robredo edged out Mr. Marcos in the said race with 263,473 votes, following the latter’s lead throughout Election Day. This   prompted Mr. Marcos to file an election protest.
The revision — which has been delayed twice — will only cover three provinces chosen by each party.
Mr. Marcos’s chosen provinces of Camarines Sur, Iloilo, and Negros Oriental will be the first to undergo the process.
The revision will take place at the SC and Court of Appeals’ (CA) converted gymnasium at the 5th floor of their premises in Padre Faura, Manila.
They will be conducted by revision committees (RC) composed of a head revisor hired by the PET and one revisor each from the parties of Ms. Robredo and Mr. Marcos.
Mr. Arenas said the revisors were private individuals who applied and undergone an interview, a psychological test to dispel bias, and an aptitude test.
It will run from Monday to Friday, 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., with short breaks in between for the RCs.
RCs will be given a time limit of five hours and 30 minutes for boxes with less than 300 ballots, 8 hours and 15 minutes for boxes with 300-699 ballots, and 11 hours for boxes with more than 700 ballots.
Mr. Arenas explained they plan to hire more head revisors as only 40 RCs will be present on Monday despite the site being able to accommodate up to 50 RCs.
He also pointed out that a total of 5,418 ballot boxes have been retrieved by PET, each representing a clustered precinct from Mr. Marcos’s chosen provinces.
Only 1,400 boxes from Camarines Sur, however, were present on-site at the SC/CA due to limited storage capabilities, he added.
The remaining boxes will be moved in once the RCs are done with the initial 1,400.
Lawyer Ma. Carina M. Cunanan, another PET representative, said the site is monitored by CCTV surveillance and a handful of security personnel, who they plan to augment in the future.
She pointed out that aside from the regular SC security, also present were personnel from the Philippine National Police (PNP) and the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG).
Ms. Robredo will attend Mass on Monday morning before proceeding to the SC for the recount, according to her camp.
The Marcos camp in its latest statement called on its supporters “to remain calm and be with us in prayers.”

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