MANILA, Philippines (Updated 3:44 p.m.) — The camp of Vice President Leni Robredo urged the Supreme Court, sitting as the Presidential Electoral Tribunal, to release a copy of the summary of recount of the three pilot provinces identified in former Sen. Ferdinand “Bongbong”Marcos Jr.’s poll protest against her.
In a motion filed Monday, lawyer Romulo Macalintal, Robredo’s counsel, asked the tribunal to furnish the parties with a copy of the Summary and Report on the revision, recount and re-appreciation of ballots from three pilot provinces.
Robredo’s camp argued that the parties “need to be apprised on the truth of the real result of the revision, recount and re-appreciation of ballots from the three pilot provinces.”
“If only to put to rest the speculations and in the greater interest of transparency, protestee [Robredo] respectfully asks that the parties be furnished with a copy of the Summary and Report on the revision, recount and re-appreciation of ballots from three pilot provinces,” the motion further read.
It would “put to rest any apprehensions the parties entertain as a result of the speculations being reported in various media outlets,” they added.
RELATED: Bersamin: No 'foot-dragging' in Marcos poll protest vs Robredo
Opinion piece on poll protest
An editorial piece on The STAR last week, quoting anonymous sources, claimed that the SC voted 8-6 on the poll protest, in favor of Marcos.
The report claimed: “Our information is that ‘it’s 8-6 in favor of Marcos’ – that is, with the PET putting aside its Rule 65 for an ‘initial determination’ test in three pilot provinces and allowing a continuation of the recount in the remaining 22 provinces and five highly urbanized cities protested by him.”
Rule 65 holds that: “If upon examination of such ballots and proof, and after making reasonable allowances, the Tribunal is convinced that, taking all circumstances into account, the protestant or counter-protestant will most probably fail to make out his case, the protest may forthwith be dismissed, without further consideration of the other provinces mentioned in the protest.”
But Chief Justice Lucas Bersamin said that there has yet to be a definite vote on the case.
Bersamin explained that after the member-in-charge of a particular case submits a report, the other justices would study it and “that takes time.”
“There may be already deliberation, you know there are several parts of that case and the rumor that there is already a report, whether that is true or not will not necessarily mean we will terminate the deliberations,” he explained.
In an exclusive interview with CNN Philippines’ The Source, Bersamin confirmed Thursday that the case is on the agenda of their en banc session .
The SC is set to meet in a full court session on Tuesday, October 8.
Marcos slams Robredo plea
Marcos’ spokesperson, lawyer Vic Rodriguez, slammed Robredo's motion and called it “a mockery of the legal process.”
In a statement, Rodriguez said Robredo and her lawyers should "cease bullying of the honorable justices," and "stop deceiving the Filipino by requesting from the high court, through a preposterous motion, copy of something that she already has."
Marcos’ spokesperson also claimed that as early as September 10, Robredo’s camp were in a "celebratory mood" and proclaiming victory "complete with leaflets depicting figures alleged to have been sourced from a draft decision."
He referred to a leaflet that supposedly showed that Robredo obtained 14,438,750 votes, which was more than the tally from the 2016 national elections.
The leaflet also claimed that Robredo’s lead against Marcos ballooned to 279,315, from the 2016 official tally of 263,473.
Marcos’ poll protest
Marcos’ second cause of action covers the recount of ballots from Camarines Sur, Negros Oriental and Iloilo— the three provinces he earlier identified.
The recount result will determine whether Marcos’ protest will be dismissed or not. If there is a big discrepancy between the official tally and figures from the revision, the PET would expand the coverage of the recount to 27 other provinces, coveirng 30,000 poll precincts.
RELATED: SC defers action on Marcos poll protest