By Moira Encina
Eagle News Service
(Eagle News) – Just a day after the official start of the manual recount of votes for vice-president, four of the head revisors supervising the counting decided to withdraw.
There was no reason why the four head supervisors of the Presidential Electoral Tribunal begged off on Tuesday, April 3, from the work of the manual recount, but there were four alternates who would take their place, so the recount would still push through.
“We are surprised and concerned with the withdrawal of the four head revisors for no apparent reason. I hope this will not result in another round of delays especially now that we have started to uncover clear signs of fraud,” said former senator Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr., who filed the poll protest case questioning the number of real votes won by Vice-President Leni Robredo.
“They are no ordinary revisors, having undergone rigid psychological test and meticulous screening by the PET. They must have a compelling reason for backing out and I am one with the Filipino people in asking why,” he said in a statement.
One of Robredo’s lawyers, Bernadette Sardillo, said this development with the four head revisors resigning on the second day of the manual recount was an “unfortunate” incident which could delay proceedings.
In all, there are 40 revision committees each led by a head revisor that takes care of the manual recount of the contested ballots from the three pilot provinces — Camarines Sur, Iloilo and Negros Oriental.
On the second day of the manual recount, 11 ballot boxes were opened from Camarines Sur.
Just like in the first day, there were also wet and unreadable ballots found inside the ballot boxes.
-Wet unreadable ballots, missing audit logs –
On Monday, April 2, Marcos complained of wet ballots and missing audit logs in the ballot boxes from Camarines Sur that were opened at the start of the manual recount.
He said the ballots from four precincts from Bato, Camarines Sur were all wet.
“Basa. So hindi magamit. Hindi namin maintindihan papano, imposible naman siguro na dalawang taong basa yan…Palagay ko, kailangan talaga pag aralan kung paano nangyari yan,” Marcos said.
The former senator said 38 of the 42 clustered precincts in Camarines Sur that were opened on Monday had no audit logs.
He said the logs were important because they show when the precinct opened, what time the vote was made, and what time the precinct closed.
“E kung may late reporting, o early reporting, tulad ng nakikita namin sa ibang record na may pumapasok na resulta ng Sunday May 8 (2016), merong pumapasok na resulta late May 9 (2016) at umaga May 10 (2016), dun natin makikita dapat sa audit log. E winala ang audit log,” Marcos said on Monday.
The focus of the manual recount were the three pilot provinces— Camarines Sur, Iloilo and Negros Oriental— which Marcos had identified.
At the start of the manual recount, only the ballot boxes from Camarines Sur, Robredo’s home province, were opened.
The results of the initial recount, which covers 5418 clustered precincts, will determine whether the manual recount for the entire 31047 clustered precincts covered by Marcos’ electoral protest will proceed.
Leni Robredo was declared the winner of the 2016 vice presidential elections after claiming more than 200,000 votes more than Marcos.
(Eagle News Service)
