Says Comelec never informed any candidate of presence of such
(Eagle News) — The camp of former Senator Bongbong Marcos slammed the camp of Vice President Leni Robredo for its claims the “mysterious” squares on their ballot images were a new “feature,” saying the Commission on Elections never informed any candidate of the presence of such.
“I dare him now to produce any briefing made by the Comelec on the presence of the squares because I have yet to meet anyone – be it a political party or candidate or Information Technology expert – who had ever been informed of the existence of squares on the ballot images,” Vic Rodriguez, Marcos’ spokesperson, said in a statement.
“Either Atty. (Romulo) Macalintal is just being consistently untrue or he had a special briefing from Comelec exclusively for the then ruling Liberal Party,” Rodriguez added, referring to Robredo’s lawyer.
Rodriguez stood by their pronouncement the squares were “an unlawful insertion and alteration of the digital image.”
He said the squares “should not be there because during the source code review, no boxes were shown.”
“If ever, the boxes must have been added after the source code review which is against the law…If the insertion was done “clandestinely, we wonder what other alterations they did to alter the digital results?” he said.
Rodriguez also slammed Macalintal’s pronouncement he was confident that the results of the ballot recount in connection with Marcos’ electoral protest against Robredo would be the same as the results in the 2016 vice presidential elections.
“He seemed to have forgotten that he is the lawyer of protestants in three election cases in Nueva Ecija, Leyte and Bulacan. In those cases, he is moving for the nullification of the proclamation of the winning candidates alleging among others defective vote counting machines and questionable transmissions, which are some of issues also raised by former Senator Marcos himself in his election protest,” Rodriguez said.
“By asserting that the recount will not change the results of the elections, is Atty. Macalintal now saying that he misled these clients of his into filing frivolous and baseless protests?” Rodriguez asked.
According to Marcos’ spokesperson, if Macalintal was “confident” about the results of the count, “why did his client file a counter-election protest covering 13 provinces against Senator Marcos?”
“Atty. Macalintal’s arguments seem to be more and more confusing and contradictory as the days pass,” he said.
“They have trampled on the right of the Filipino people and deprived them of their duly elected vice president. Now two years on, they are continuing their web of lies even in the face of direct and solid evidence of rampant cheating. This is the grandest and longest deception ever committed against the Filipino people,” Rodriguez added.
Marcos alleged in his electoral protest filed in June 2016 that Robredo’s camp cheated in the May 2016 polls.
He sought the annulment of votes cast in three provinces – Lanao del Sur, Basilan and Maguindanao–and a recount in Camarines Sur, Iloilo and Negros Oriental.
The Presidential Electoral Tribunal has found the protest sufficient in form and substance.
Robredo was declared the winner of the vice presidential race, with only 263,473 votes more than Marcos.
