Robredo hits Office of Solicitor General for 'delaying' resolution on voting threshold issue

MANILA, Philippines — TThe camp of Vice President Leni Robredo has opposed the Office of the Solicitor General’s plea for another extension to file the government’s comment on the motion to apply the 25-percent threshold in determining valid votes in the ongoing recount.

Robredo, through her legal counsels Romulo Macalintal and Bernadette Sardillo, filed an 8-page Vehement Opposition to Solicitor General’s Third Motion for Extension with Motion to Resolve the Threshold Issue.

The Presidential Electoral Tribunal first ordered the camp of former Sen. Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. and the Commission on Elections to comment on Robredo’s appeal last April.

Robredo is urging the tribunal to reconsider its resolution that states that it will use 50-percent threshold to determine a vote’s validity. She stressed that the tribunal should apply the 25-percent threshold cited in an earlier Comelec resolution.

But Robredo’s counsels pointed out that the Office of the Solicitor General, representing the Comelec, has yet to answer their appeal.

The OSG has already filed three Motions for Additional Time: On May 28, June 11 and June 26.

The third pleading moves that the office will file its comment on July 11.

“The continued failure of the OSG to submit the comment for and in behalf of Comelec has resulted to a delay in the disposition of the urgent motion for reconsideration,” Robredo’s lawyers said.

They added: “There is no compelling reason why the Solicitor General and/or Comelec would be given more than 10 days to file its comment on an issue, the answer to which is already available to the Comelec.”

The vice president’s camp also stressed that while the OSG may be dealing with “heavy pressure of work in other equally important case,” the electoral case should still be given preference, except for petitions for habeas corpus or writs of amparo and habeas data.

The lawyers then moved for the tribunal throw out the OSG’s motion to extend and resolve the threshold issue “even without the said comment of the Comelec and/or Solicitor General.”

Marcos, in his protest, contested the results in a total of 132,446 precincts in 39,221 clustered precincts covering 27 provinces and cities. He sought for a recount in Camarines Sur, Iloilo and Negros Oriental covering a total of 5,418 clustered precincts. The recount started on April 2.