The Philippine Supreme Court Monday started a recount of the country's vice presidential elections in 2016, after Senator Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos accused Maria Leonor "Leni" Robredo of stealing his victory.

The manual scrutiny of ballots cast in three provinces, began amid strong security in the offices of the Supreme Court's Court of Appeals in Manila and will continue until Friday. </s> The failure of Vice President Leni Robredo to pay P8 million in cash deposit should prompt the outright dismissal of her counterprotest, former Sen. Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. on Thursday told the Supreme Court, acting as the Presidential Electoral Tribunal (PET).

In a six-page omnibus motion, the son and namesake of the late strongman Ferdinand Marcos also urged the PET to set the preliminary conference of his election protest against Robredo, who edged him out in the vice presidential race in the May 2016 polls by over 200,000 votes.

Robredo, represented by veteran election lawyer Romulo Macalintal, had asked the high court to allow her to settle the first tranche of the required cash bond for her own protest at a later time pending the determination of the merits of Marcos’ protest.

The election tribunal has directed Marcos to pay P66 million for the precincts covered by his protest while Robredo was required to post a P15 million cash bond for her counterprotest.

They were both ordered to settle the first installment of the cash deposit on April 14. Marcos made a payment of P36 million as first installment of his protest fee.

The former senator, President Duterte’s staunch ally, said the vice president’s action was only intended to further delay the resolution of his accusation that she had cheated him.

“In view of the failure on the part of (Robredo) to pay the first tranche of the cash deposit for her counterprotest within the deadline set by this honorable tribunal, protestant Marcos is now constrained to move for the immediate dismissal of the counterprotest,” Marcos said in his petition.

He said the dismissal of Robredo’s counterprotest was “warranted” as the PET had previously thrown out two election cases because of the failure of the petitioners to settle the required cash deposits on time.

“There being no issue as to the cash deposit required to be paid by (Robredo), there is clearly no basis for (her) to ask this honorable tribunal to hold in abeyance the payment of the cash deposit for her counterprotest,” said Marcos. </s> SETTLED. Former senator Ferdinand Marcos Jr arrives at the Supreme Court on April 17, 2017, to post a cash deposit of P36 million as initial payment for his election protest against Vice President Leni Robredo. Photo by Inoue Jaena/Rappler

MANILA, Philippines (3rd UPDATE) – Former senator Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr asked the Supreme Court (SC) to junk the counter-protest of Vice President Leni Robredo, citing her failure to pay a fee in connection with his electoral protest.

In an omnibus motion before the High Court on Thursday, April 20, the Marcos camp said Robredo's case should be dismissed since Robredo had failed to settle the first installment of the fee required by the SC, sitting as the Presidential Electoral Tribunal (PET).

It cited Rule 34 of the 2010 PET rules, which states, "If a party fails to make the cash deposits or additional deposits herein required within the prescribed time limit, the Tribunal may dismiss the protest or counter-protest, or take such action as it may deem equitable under the circumstances."

The PET earlier ordered Marcos and Robredo to settle a fee of P66 million and P15 million, respectively, for the recount of ballots for the electoral protest. The sum was based on the number of precincts contested by both parties in their protests.

Marcos was supposed to pay an initial fee of P36 million, while Robredo was to pay P8 million, on Monday, April 17.

Marcos personally went to the SC on Monday to make the payment. Robredo, for her part, filed a manifestation on April 12, arguing that she should pay the amount only after Marcos' payment and after an initial batch of ballots has been opened to prove the sufficiency of the protest.

Marcos' lawyers called the other camp's move a "dilatory" tactic.

"There being no issue as to the cash deposit required to be paid by the protestee/counter-protestant, there is clearly no basis for Robredo to ask this Honorable Tribunal to hold in abeyance the payment of the cash deposit for her counter-protest," the motion read.

Marcos' spokesperson, Vic Rodriguez, said the protest procedure will be faster if the counter-protest is dismissed.

"The only thing left for the Tribunal to do is to hear and decide on the case to be presented by Marcos and no one else. Furthermore, it will exclude them from filing the usual dilatory motions they have been doing," said Rodriguez.

Marcos' camp also urged the PET to proceed with the preliminary conference.

The preliminary conference is where the issues of a case are simplified and the number of witnesses are set, among other agreements. The proceedings of the case are set in motion when the court issues a preliminary conference order.

On January 26, Marcos asked the PET to set the preliminary conference for his protest that was filed 9 months ago.

Only after a preliminary conference can the initial opening of ballots from 3 identified provinces be conducted, said Rodriguez.

In a statement released Tuesday afternoon, Robredo's election lawyer, Romulo Macalintal, stressed that they will wait for the PET's resolution on the issues they had raised in their motion.

"We will wait for the PET to resolve the matter. If the PET decides we should pay now, we will make the necessary payment," said Macalintal. – Rappler.com </s> VICE PRESIDENT Maria Leonor “Leni” Robredo’s counter-protest is in danger of being junked by the Supreme Court because of her failure to pay protest fees.

This was the contention of former senator Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. who asked the court, sitting as the Presidential Electoral Tribunal (PET), on Monday to dismiss the counter-protest in connection with the May 2016 vice-presidential race.

In a six-page omnibus motion, the former senator stressed that his election protest should be the only one allowed to proceed following his initial payment of the election protest fee.

Robredo failed to comply with the tribunal’s order last March 21 for payment of the first installment required of both parties. The last day of payment was last Monday. Only Marcos complied.

“[T]he protestee/counter-protestant (Robredo) did not pay the required initial installment of the cash deposit in the amount of eight million pesos (P8 million) by 17 April 2017, she opted instead to file a manifestation with urgent ex-parte omnibus motion (1) for clarification; and (2) reconsideration of the resolution dated 21 March 2017.

“In view of the failure on the part of the protestee/counter-protestant to pay the first tranche of the cash deposit for her counter-protest within the deadline set by this honorable tribunal, protestant Marcos is now constrained to move for the immediate dismissal of the counter-protest in accordance with Rule 34 of the 2010 Rules of the Presidential Electoral Tribunal,” the motion stated.

Robredo’s lawyer, Romulo Macalintal, said they filed a motion on Wednesday explaining a request for a clarification as to the timing of the payment for the counter-protest, “that it could be done if and when Mr. Marcos has already established his case as protestant.”

“We will wait for the PET to resolve the matter,” Macalintal said in a statement. “If the PET decides we should pay now, we will make the necessary payment.”

Rule 34 provides that “[i]f a party fails to make the cash deposits or additional deposits herein required within the prescribed time limit, the tribunal may dismiss the protest or counter-protest, or take such action as it may deem equitable under the circumstances.”

The Marcos camp quoted the cases of Perla Garcia, et al. vs the House of Representatives Electoral Tribunal and Rep. Harry Angping; and Bienvenido William D. LLoren vs Commission on Elections and Rogelio Pua Jr., where the high court upheld the dismissal of the protests for failure to make the required cash deposit.

 Marcos accused Robredo’s camp of delaying the recount .

“The filing of [Robredo’s] manifestation with urgent ex-parte omnibus motion cannot excuse Robredo from the payment of the required cash deposit since the same is obviously dilatory,” the Marcos motion stated.

“Robredo’s intention to further delay the proceedings in this case is evident from the arguments raised in her latest submission. Protestant Marcos finds it quite ironic that Robredo would ask for the deferment of the payment of her cash deposit even though she had already expressed her conformity and willingness to pay the same in her [manifestation],” it added.

Marcos, through his lawyer George Erwin Garcia, asked the PET for the setting of the preliminary conference on the protest, as mandated by Rule 29 of the PET Rules.

The PET had ruled that the case deposit for Marcos amounted to P66,223,000, or P500 for each of the 132,446 voting precincts.

In his protest, Marcos assailed the election results in 39,221 clustered precincts. He wants a recount in 36,465 precincts, and the annulment of results in the remaining 2,756. Based on Commission on Elections data, the 39,221 clustered precincts are composed of 132,446 precincts.

Marcos lost to Robredo by only 263,473 votes. </s> MANILA – Former senator Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos made his first installment payment required from him by Supreme Court as his poll protest fee against Vice President Leni Robredo.

The SC, seating as Presidential Electoral Tribunal (PET) required Marcos of pay Php66 million as protest fee with half required to be paid by April 17. The balance must be paid on or before July 14. The amount will be used by the PET to transport the election paraphernalia to the electoral tribunal for their review, the www.sunstar.com.ph reported.

Marcos said that he was able to raise the amount through his supporters and friends.

“Sila and kumuha ng suporta at tulong para mabuo and Php36.02 million,” Marcos claimed.

He hopes that with the payment of the first installment, the justices will be compelled to begin the preliminary conference on his petition.

Marcos filed an electoral protest with the PET contesting the win of Robredo in last year’s polls by a mere 200,000 votes. He petitioned the PET to nullify the results of the vice presidential election and open contested election returns.

Marcos is contesting votes cast in favor of Robredo in Lanao del Sur, Basilan, and Maguindanao.

The SC likewise ordered Robredo to pay PhP15,439,000 since was also contesting vote results in 8,042 clustered precincts. </s> Ex-senator Bongbong Marcos' lawyer says Ilocos Norte Governor Imee Marcos is not accredited, but she was still 'allowed by the PET to enter' on April 2

It was not surprising for Ilocos Norte Governor Imee Marcos to show up at the Supreme Court (SC) as the ballot recount for the vice presidential electoral protest began on Monday, April 2.

After all, it was her brother, ex-senator Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr, who filed the electoral protest against Vice President Leni Robredo. (READ: TIMELINE: Marcos-Robredo election case)

But according to Robredo's lawyer Bernadette Sardillo, Imee should not have been able to enter the ballot revision or recount site in the first place.

Sardillo hit back at Imee after the latter granted a media interview on Tuesday, April 3, to defend her brother, whose claims of anomalies regarding ballot boxes were tagged as "fake news" by Robredo's other legal counsel, Romulo Macalintal.

"With all due respect to Ms Marcos, we had to answer the lies that they wanted to propagate. She should advise her brother to consult his legal team first before ranting to the media," said Sardillo.

"If it is following the rules of PET (Presidential Electoral Tribunal) that are being placed in issue, maybe Ms Marcos should also explain why she blatantly violated the rules when she gatecrashed the revision area," she added.

But did Imee really enter without authorization?

Only the protestant, protestee, their respective revisors, alternate revisors, lawyers, and other observers accredited by the PET are allowed to enter the 5th floor gymnasium at the SC-Court of Appeals building.

Sources, including Bongbong's lawyer George Garcia, confirmed Imee was able to enter the venue on Monday, along with Bongbong and his wife, Louise Araneta Marcos.

The Marcos camp's legal counsel said Bongbong and Louise are part of the accreditation list, but not Imee.

Nevertheless, Garcia said the governor was still "allowed by the PET to enter" on Monday morning.

He then said the PET had to "apologize" for this when the tribunal met with the lawyers of both the Marcos and Robredo camps on Monday afternoon.

"The PET even apologized for the inadvertence when they allowed Gov Imee...The PET said it will not happen again," said Garcia.

Rule 16 of the PET Revisor Guide for the Revision of Ballots under the Automated Election System says that the only ones who can observe the ballot recount proceedings at the venue are the protestant, protestee, their respective duly accredited party supervisor, party counsel, "and such other persons as may be authorized by the Tribunal."

The PET had required both the Marcos and Robredo camps to submit the names, addresses, and photos of all party revisors, alternate supervisors, and counsels for accreditation to gain access to the ballot recount site by March 27. – Rappler.com </s> THE electoral protest filed by former senator Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. against Vice President Maria Leonor “Leni” Robredo has started to roll with the former paying on Monday P36 million, his first installment for the P66 million protest fee required by the Supreme Court (SC).

The High Court, sitting as Presidential Electoral Tribunal, gave Marcos until April 17, 2017, to deposit the money with the tribunal.

The P30 million balance should be paid on or before July 14.

The court also ordered Robredo to pay P15.7 million.

Marcos personally went to the court to pay P36,023,000. The check was received by Jeffrey Raymond Atienza, Assistant Officer in Charge of the Cash Collection and Distribution Division of the Fiscal Management and Budget Office.

“My close friends contributed to raise the P36 million, even supporters who accompanied me here have chipped in because the time given to raise the P66.2-million was not enough,” Marcos said.

Hundreds of Marcos loyalists waited for the former lawmaker outside the Supreme Court building on Padre Faura St. in Manila.

“Hanggang ngayon hindi pa alam ng taumbayan kung sino ba talaga ang nanalong bise presidente noong nakaraang halalan. Sa palagay ko ang isang taon ay masyado nang mahaba (Up to this day, the people do not know who really won in the vice presidential election. I think one year of waiting is enough),” Marcos told reporters.

“Kaya sana ang ating mga magigiting na justice ay simulan na ang proseso ng paghuhusga kung sino ba talaga ang nanalo sa nakaraang halalan. Ipagpapatuloy natin ang protesta (I hope that the justices will now start the process of resolving this case. We will continue with the protest). I hope this compliance we have done to the Supreme Court’s order will go a long way to getting the process right,” he added.

Forty friends and supporters of Marcos said they pooled their resources to help the former senator raise the needed amount on time.

Marcos, through his lawyer George Erwin Garcia, received the SC’s order dated March 21, 2017 on April 10, 2017 requiring him to pay P66 million.

The P200,000 filing fee paid by Marcos when he filed the protest had been deducted from the cost requirement.

 “Since President-Mayor Joseph Estrada declared Wednesday (April 12) as a non-working holiday for all government employees in Manila, the offices of the Supreme Court were closed on Wednesday (April 12), Holy

 Thursday (April 13) & Good Friday (April 14). Thus, if Bongbong were to comply with the April 14 deadline that would give him less than 48 hours to come up with P36 million. In order not to delay the proceedings any further, we decided to pool our resources so that the cash deposit of P36 million would be paid,” friends of Marcos said in a letter submitted to the SC.

“We have done this because it is our heartfelt wish that the election protest be resolved with dispatch,” the added.

 “Ten months is too long for this open wound to fester. This insecurity and instability is not good for the country.”

 Marcos was required to pay P500 for each of the 132,446 precincts where a recount will be held.

In his complaint, the former senator assailed the election results in 39,221 clustered precincts. Based on the Commission on Elections data, the 39,221 clustered precincts are composed of 132,446 precincts.

Robredo had sought the dismissal of the poll protest but the high tribunal dismissed her petition. The PET junked Robredo’s claim that the grounds cited by Marcos in his complaint are just a “series of wild accusations, guesses, and surmises.”

Recently, the PET ordered the preservation of the “automated election equipment and records such as Vote Counting Machines (VCM), Consolidation and Canvass System ()CCs) units, Secure Digital (SD) cards (main and back up), and the other data storage devices in all of the 92,509 clustered precincts used in the May 2016 elections.”

Marcos lost to Robredo by only 263,473 votes. He claimed that he was a victim of “massive electoral fraud, anomalies and irregularities” such as preshading of ballots, pre-loaded Secure Digital cards, misreading of ballots, malfunctioning VCMs, and an “abnormally high” unaccounted votes/undervotes for the position of VP.

Robredo’s camp on Monday said Marcos should pay P185 million for his election protest.

Romulo Macalintal, the lead counsel of Robredo, noted that Marcos’ dues should be P185 million because Marcos is protesting the results of all 369,138 established precincts.

“Mr. Marcos should pay P185 million because it is worth P500 per established precinct not a clustered precinct, a decision already made by the PET. In fact, the technology provider Smartmatic is already billing the Comelec to the tune of P2.9 billion because the Comelec failed to return the leased VCMs on time due to the pending Marcos case,” Macalintal said.

He added that while Marcos is questioning the election results in 662 municipalities, he was only able to provide detailed specification of his poll fraud allegation in 57 municipalities.

Macalintal said Robredo will not pay the fee required by the tribunal just yet.

“He is the one filing a protest, so he should make the first cash deposit. We have to see first if the votes recovered from the recount due to Marcos’ protest will be enough to overcome the Vice President’s winning margin,” the lawyer said.

“While payment of the cash deposit would have to be complied with, the Robredo camp asked the PET to allow her to comply with the order of payment at a later time because we can’t pay the cash deposit unless the merits of Mr. Marcos’s election protest has been determined,” Macalintal explained. “We believe that we should not pay the cash deposit at this point, in accordance to the PET rules.” </s> Lawyers of Vice President Leni Robredo and ex-senator Ferdinand Marcos Jr say the ballot recount will determine who truly won the vice presidency

MANILA, Philippines – Both the camps of Vice President Leni Robredo and her rival, former senator Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr, are oozing with confidence as the ballot recount for the vice presidency is set to begin on Monday, April 2.

Why they are confident: Lawyers of Robredo and Marcos both believe the results of the recount will prove their respective clients won in the 2016 elections. (READ: TIMELINE: Marcos-Robredo election case)

Marcos' legal counsel and spokesperson Vic Rodriguez said their camp has long waited for the recount to begin. He also criticized the Vice President's camp for allegedly delaying the protest and attempting to "bury the truth." (READ: 'Why run for senator when I already won as VP?' – Bongbong Marcos)

"We have endured two years of waiting due to Robredo's habitual and intentional moves to delay the election protest and deliberate attempts to bury the truth," Rodriguez said in a text message on Sunday, April 1.

"Finally, we have reached the day when manual recount [will] finally commence and very much look forward to its final conclusion [to] determine the bona fide winner and dispel once and for all the uncertainty that beclouds the truth choice of the electorate for Vice President," he added.

Robredo's lawyer Romulo Macalintal, meanwhile, said they are "happy" over the start of the ballot recount, as they are "confident" Robredo truly won the elections. (READ: Robredo wants VP protest resolved so Marcos 'won't have space to lie')

"[We are] very, very confident, and we're happy that the revision and the recount will start… because of the fact that we will be able to prove to the entire Filipino people that our client, the Vice President, won in a legitimate election," Macalintal told Rappler.

The veteran election lawyer said the ballot recount process will show "there is nothing irregular" in Robredo's victory.

How the ballot recount works: Despite both camps' confidence, do not expect the ballot recount to be finished any time soon.

The Supreme Court (SC), acting as the Presidential Electoral Tribunal (PET), will review a total of 5,418 ballot boxes from Camarines Sur, Iloilo, and Negros Oriental – the 3 pilot provinces that Marcos chose for the initial ballot recount.

The ballot recount process will be held at the 5th floor gymnasium of the SC-Court of Appeals building in Padre Faura in Manila. (READ: LOOK: Where PET will recount vice presidential votes)

As of now, the PET only has around 1,400 ballot boxes from Camarines Sur. The ballot boxes from the other two provinces will still be retrieved in the coming weeks or months, depending on the PET's schedule.

A total of 50 revision committees will pore over every ballot box starting Monday. Each revision committee will include two revisors from the Marcos camp, another two from the Robredo camp, and an independent head revisor hired by the PET.

The PET requires them to finish a box of less than 300 ballots in 5.5 hours, a box of 300 to 699 ballots in 8.35 hours, and a box of more than 700 ballots in 11 hours.

The revision committees will work Monday to Friday, from 8:30 am to 4:30 pm, with breaks in between for a total of 6.5 hours a day.

The PET will then determine the merit of the rest of Marcos' protest based on the results from the 3 pilot provinces.

When the ballot recount will be over: Macalintal explained that the review of the Camarines Sur ballot boxes alone will take about two months.

"Sa Camarines Sur alone, siguro mga 6 to 8 weeks. So you are talking about two months bago matapos 'yan, ano? Kasi in our experience, 'yung isang ballot box, halos an average of one ballot box a day," said the lawyer.

Granting the PET will be able to have the ballot boxes from Iloilo and Negros Oriental retrieved soon, the whole ballot recount process will take at least 6 months.

But this is just a rough estimate. The PET has yet to schedule the ballot retrieval and recount for the other two provinces. – Rappler.com </s> Losing vice presidential candidate and former Sen. Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. on Monday paid P36 million to the Supreme Court as first installment of the required fee for the retrieval of election materials for his election protest against Vice President Leni Robredo.

In an ambush interview with reporters, Marcos said he was hoping that his compliance to the high court’s order would “go a long way to get the process started.”

“Galing ako sa Office of the Clerk of Court at ako ay nag-comply sa order na bayaran ang first tranche para sa protest ko. Kahit na merong kaming mga disagreement sa pagkalkula dahil pinagbabayad kami kahit na Semana Santa,” Marcos said.

The SC, sitting as Presidential Electoral Tribunal, ordered Marcos to pay a total of P66.2 million for the precincts he was contesting. In his protest, the late dictator’s son and namesake urged the court to order the immediate collection, retrieval, transport, and delivery of all ballot boxes in 39,221 clustered precincts or equivalent to 132,446 established precincts.

Robredo, meanwhile, was required to pay P15,639,000. In her counter-protest, the duly elected Vice President questioned 8,042 clustered precincts or 31,278 established precincts.

Both camps were ordered to pay in two tranches. The first installment was supposed to be received last April 14, Good Friday, but the date fell on a national holiday. The deadline for the second installment is on July 14. JE/rga
Bongbong Marcos asks the Philippine Supreme Court to dismiss a counter-protest by current vice president Leni Robredo regarding her narrow victory in last year's national elections.