VP Robredo asks Ilonggos' help over poll protest case
ILOILO CITY — Vice President Leni Robredo yesterday asked for the help of the Ilonggos over the vice presidential electoral protest filed by her opponent, former Senator Bongbong Marcos, pending at the Presidential Electoral Tribunal (PET).
Citing that she could not openly discuss the merits of the case due to the sub judice rule, Robredo appealed to the Ilonggo community to secure the ballots used during the 2016 elections.
Marcos had asked the Supreme Court, sitting as the PET, for a pilot manual recount and judicial revision of ballots in Iloilo, Negros Oriental, and Camarines Sur, Robredo's home province.
"Iloilo is one of the provinces na tinuro na merong dayaan. Magpapatulong tayo sa mga taga dito na ma-secure sana 'yung mga balota kasi dadalhin 'yan from Iloilo to the Supreme Court," Robredo said, emphasizing that her main concern is for the ballots not to be tampered.
"Hindi magkaroon ng access 'yung iba na hindi naman authorized so that when it reached the Supreme Court, its integrity is still intact. Kasi alam naman na hindi nagkaroon ng dayaan dito," Robredo said after she attended the 4th Babaenihan National Level Event at the University of the Philippines-Visayas (Iloilo City campus) on Friday, March 9.
She said she is confident that there was no fraud and that she won in Iloilo. "At tingin ko 'yung mga taga-Iloilo ang makakapagsabi niyan," she added.
Robredo got an overwhelming 573,729 votes in Iloilo as against Marcos’ 94,411 votes. However, the Marcos' camp claimed that it's quite implausible since his running mate, the late senator Miriam Defensor-Santiago, was from Iloilo.
However, it is to be noted that Robredo's running mate, former senator Mar Roxas is an Ilonggo, too, being from Capiz province. Roxas also got big votes in Western Visayas, way ahead of Miriam's votes and that of President Rodrigo Duterte.
Robredo won the vice presidential race with 14,418,817 votes against Marcos who got 14,155,344, or a difference of 263,473 votes.