Marcos asks PET: Stand by 50% shade limit

MANILA, Philippines — Former senator Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. yesterday asked the Supreme Court, sitting as the Presidential Electoral Tribunal (PET), to stand firm in its 50-percent threshold for the ongoing recount in his electoral protest against Vice President Leni Robredo.

In an 11-page comment he personally filed, Marcos asked the PET to deny the motion for reconsideration filed by the Vice President last month where she reiterated her plea for the PET to lower the limit and instead apply the 25-percent threshold supposedly set by the Commission on Elections (Comelec) during canvassing of votes in the last automated polls.

Marcos argued that granting Robredo’s plea would be tantamount to giving her special treatment since the PET applied the 50-percent threshold under its rules promulgated in 2010 for automated elections in the country.

Robredo’s lawyer, Romulo Macalintal, said yesterday the PET’s continued use of the 50-percent threshold would disenfranchise millions of voters in the 2016 polls, including those who voted for Marcos.

He denied Marcos’ claim that the Comelec set the 50-percent threshold in the 2016 polls.

“What the Comelec set was 25-percent threshold shading as stated in the Sept. 6, 2016 Comelec en banc resolution adopting the recommendation of Commissioner Luie Guia,” Macalintal said. – Helen Flores