Marcos asks PET to order review of results in 3 ARMM provinces

FERDINAND “Bongbong” R. Marcos, Jr., who lost the vice-presidential race in 2016, asked the Presidential Electoral Tribunal (PET) to direct the Commission on Elections (Comelec) to submit its findings on the technical examination of some precincts in three provinces in the Administrative Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM). In his urgent motion for resolution, Mr. Marcos, through his legal counsel George Erwin M. Garcia, cited the June 5 findings of the Comelec-Election Records and Statistics Department (ERSD) on election returns and election day computerized voter’s list (EDVLC) that 508 precincts in the provinces of Lanao Del Sur, Maguindanao, and Basilan were “marked with different forms of election fraud such as massive substituted voting.” Mr. Marcos filed an election protest on June 29, 2016. Vice-President Maria Leonor G. Robredo’s chief legal counsel and senatorial bet Romulo B. Macalintal, reacting to the new filing, said: “(H)uwag niyong paniwalaan iyan. Iyan ay espekulasyon lang ni Mr. Marcos at gusto lang niyang buhayin iyong kanyang protesta na sa ngayon ay malapit na sa kamatayan (Do not believe in that. That is mere speculation of Mr. Marcos and he just wants to revive his case, which is close to its end).” — Vann Marlo M. Villegas