Robredo ordered to comment on Bongbong's plea for decryption, printing of ballot images

The Supreme Court (SC), sitting as the Presidential Electoral Tribunal (PET), ordered Vice President Leni Robredo to comment on the plea of former Senator Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr. for the decryption and printing of ballot images from the clustered precincts subject of his poll protest.

The tribunal gave Robredo five days to comment on Marcos' motion, according to the June 6 resolution which was released by the high court last Friday.

Marcos' legal counsel, George Garcia, moved for the request last June 1, arguing the decryption and printing of ballot images from secure digital cards and other storage devices from each of the 36,445 clustered precincts may be ordered by the tribunal before the preliminary conference on July 11.

“Rule 29(a) of the 2010 PET Rules enumerated the items to be considered during the preliminary conference, which includes among others, such other matters as may aid in the prompt disposition of the election protest,” the motion stated.

Marcos' camp said such procedure will also “assist in the preparation for the recount proceedings and the presentation of evidence for the protest.”

The contested areas subject of the proposed decryption and printing of ballot images include the provinces of Cebu, Leyte, Negros Occidental, Negros Oriental, Masbate, Zamboanga del Sur, Zamboanga Del Norte, Bukidnon, Iloilo Province, Bohol, Quezon, Batangas, Western Samar, Misamis Oriental and Camarines Sur.

Completing the list are Palawan, Albay, Zamboanga Sibugay, Misamis Occidental, Pangasinan, Isabela, Iloilo City, Bacolod City, Cebu City, Lapu-Lapu City and Zamboanga City and the second district of Northern Samar.

Garcia proposed that the decryption and printing of the ballot images be conducted and supervised by the Election Records and Statistics Departments (ERSD) of the Commission on Elections (Comelec).

Marcos' protest and Robredo's counter protest assail the election results in 47,263 clustered precincts nationwide.

Specifically, Marcos questions the results in 39,221 clustered precincts—36,445 of which for the manual count and judicial revision, while the remaining 2,756 are for the annulment of poll results.

Robredo, on the other hand, assails the results in 8,042 clustered precincts.

Marcos lost to Robredo by just 263,473 votes in the May 2016 election, making it the closest vice presidential contest since democracy was restored in 1986. —KG, GMA News