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> 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> Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, April 2) — The vote recount for the 2016 vice presidential election began Monday.

Vice President Leni Robredo attended Mass on Monday ahead of the ballot recount by the Presidential Electoral Tribunal (PET).

"The recount starts today. Yesterday was Easter, and the biggest lesson is, 'There is always hope in the midst of darkness,'" she said, speaking at St. Scholastica's College in Manila.

She is confident despite what she calls a difficult opponent and trying times.

"Sa dulo ng lahat, parating katotohanan ang mananaig... Wala tayong dapat ikatakot dahil katotohanan ang ating ipinaglalaban. This is the time of fear, pero manalig tayo," she said.

[Translation: In the end, truth will prevail. We shall not fear because we are fighting for the truth. This is the time of fear, but we shall keep our faith.]

The Marcos camp said they are also ready for the recount.

"We are very optimistic because we have waited for two years," Marcos' legal counsel Vic Rodriguez said.

Supreme Court spokesperson Theodore Te on Monday said the manual poll recount will "ascertain the number of votes received by both parties."

The recount begins two years after Marcos brought his electoral protest to the Supreme Court, sitting as the PET. He lost to Robredo by 263,473 votes.

The recount will happen at a gymnasium in the Supreme Court compound in Manila. This is the first time the PET will be doing a recount. The process is off-limits to media.

Rodriguez said Monday morning, the physical condition of ballot boxes and its locks will be checked. The manual recount will begin in the afternoon.

Te said the poll recount will be held Monday to Friday. The morning session will be from 8:30 a.m. to 12 p.m, the afternoon session from 1 p.m. to 4:30 p.m.

Te said the recount will follow a "strict time limit."

Since the implementation of the automated elections in 2010, Robredo's legal counsel Romulo Macalintal said electoral protests had been dismissed because the results of the manual ballot count tallied exactly with that of the vote-counting machines (VCMs) and the consolidated canvassing system.

"Sa kasaysayan ng ating automated election system, wala pang nananalong protesta sa halalan mula pa noong 2010," Macalintal said.

[Translation: In the history of the automated election system since 2010, there has not been a successful election protest.]

Marcos' camp, meanwhile, took a swipe at Robredo for her alleged moves to delay the poll count.

"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," Marcos' spokesperson Vic Rodriguez said in a statement Sunday.

He also said the recount will once and for all dispel "all the uncertainty that beclouds the true choice of the electorate and prove that Mrs. Robredo cheated her way to the Vice Presidency."

In its grant of Marcos' plea, the PET decided upon Camarines Sur, Iloilo, and Negros Oriental as the pilot provinces for the ballot recount.

Marcos identified the three provinces as "best exemplifying fraud or irregularities" in his protest brief.

Robredo also listed three provinces in her own counter-protest brief: Capiz, Sulu, and North Cotabato.

The recount in the three pilot provinces identified by Marcos will take up to six months.

Robredo said the protest of Marcos is based on general allegations and manufactured evidence designed to sway results in his favor.

Marcos had also questioned the appearance of "mysterious squares" on ballot images beside Robredo's name, saying it was a proof of fraud.

However, Robredo's camp had explained the squares are the vote-counting machines' way of recognizing a shade on the circle next to the candidate.

The PET has earlier required Marcos to pay P66 million and Robredo P15 million in two tranches to fund their protests and counter-protests. A petitioner needs to pay P500 per contested precinct.

Tedious process

The PET adhoc committee said it can set up only 40 committees on Monday. But they are hoping to open 10 more.

Each committee is composed of a head revisor — a PET employee — and one representative for each of the two candidates.

Head revisors are carefully picked as the revision committees face a huge task which would be performed within a given time frame.

They must process the results of over 5,000 clustered precincts from three pilot provinces chosen by Marcos.

In places where there are less than 300 ballots, they must finish the recount in five and a half hours. For 300 to 699 ballots, they only have a little more than eight hours. And for more than 700 ballots, they are given 11 hours.

Should there be objections or claims by either of the parties, the PET would have the last say.

The tribunal would only issue announcements should the need arise.

CNN Philippines digital producer Ver Marcelo contributed to this report. </s> The Philippines on Monday began a manual recount of votes in a vice-presidential election after the son and namesake of former dictator Ferdinand Marcos contested the outcome, while the incumbent assured supporters her win was not in doubt.

Ferdinand Marcos Jnr, a former senator popularly known as Bongbong, is furious about having lost to Leni Robredo by about 260,000 votes in a May 2016 election he says was marred by massive cheating.

Many political commentators believe Marcos has ambitions to become president one day, and wanted to use the vice presidency as a stepping stone. Opinion polls had shown him the clear leader ahead of the vote, which is separate from that for the presidency.

The recount, ordered by the Supreme Court, began with Marcos questioning the condition of some ballots from the town of Bato in Robredo’s home province of Camarines Sur.

“In four precincts in the town of Bato, all ballots are wet and thus useless,” he told reporters. Alluding to foul play, he added that the ballots seemed to be “only recently wet”.

Audit logs for most of the precincts were missing, he said, and he had seen a ballot box with a hole sealed with a masking tape.

“We have nothing to fear because the truth is what we are fighting for,” Robredo, a one-term congresswoman before the 2016 election, said in a speech after a mass service organised by her supporters in the largely Roman Catholic country.

Robredo, who hails from a decades-old political clique that opposes Duterte and helped oust Marcos in 1986, had lodged a counter protest, questioning results in about 8,000 voting precincts.

Why Marcos the dictator still inspires pride in the Philippines

Although he was not his running mate, Marcos is on good terms with President Rodrigo Duterte, who has made numerous concessions to the Marcos family.

He has constantly praised the leadership of the late dictator, fuelling concern among some Filipinos that he might cling on to power.

Ferdinand Marcos declared martial law in 1972 and held power for 14 years until his removal in a bloodless, military-backed “People Power” uprising. </s> (3rd UPDATE) The defeated vice presidential candidate says friends and supporters pulled in resources to raise the P36 million

MANILA, Philippines (3rd UPDATE) – Former senator Ferdinand Marcos Jr paid the first installment of the recount fee that the Supreme Court (SC) ordered him to pay so his election protest against Vice President Leni Robredo would proceed.

Marcos went to the SC, sitting as the Presidential Electoral Tribunal (PET), on Monday, April 17 – the deadline for payment of the first tranche of P36 million.

The defeated vice presidential candidate said friends and supporters pulled in resources to raise the P36 million.

The second installment of P30 million should be paid on or before July 14.

"Masyado nang matagal ang isang taon. Mag-iisang taon na mula nung nakaraang halalan, hanggang ngayon hindi pa alam ng taong bayan kung sino ba talaga ang nanalo bilang bise presidente," said Marcos in a brief interview.

"I hope this compliance we have done [with] the SC order will go a long way of getting the process started," he added.

In a resolution dated March 21, the SC had ordered Marcos and Robredo to pay a combined P81 million for the recount of the contested ballots in the 2016 vice presidential race.

Robredo was ordered to pay P8 million for the first tranche and P7.43 million for the second.

Marcos filed an election protest against Robredo in June 2016, contesting 39,221 clustered precincts which are composed of 132,446 established precincts. Robredo, meanwhile, filed a counter-protest, questioning 8,042 clustered precincts which are composed of 31,278 established precincts.

After the SC ordered both camps to pay the recount fees, Marcos' camp argued that the computation of the fee must be based on the clustered precincts being contested and not the established precincts.

The lawyers of the defeated vice presidential candidate also said that they are only seeking a recount of the ballots in 36,465 out of the 39,221 clustered precincts.

But Marcos' lawyer and spokesperson Vic Rodriguez clarified that they were unable to file a motion for reconsideration last Wednesday, April 12, since the SC was on half-day duty because of Holy Week.

Filing a motion for reconsideration now, however, would appear contradictory to their move on Monday, said Marcos' lead counsel George Garcia.

They will, however, file a motion to dismiss Robredo's counter-protest against Marcos on the basis that the Vice President's camp failed to pay the amount required of them.

Robredo had filed a manifestation last Wednesday, saying Marcos should be first to pay the fee and initiate the opening of ballots from 3 chosen provinces to prove that his protest has sufficient basis.

The Vice President's lawyers also said Marcos should pay P185 million instead of P66 million because his first pleading before the PET sought the protection of election paraphernalia in all 92,509 clustered precincts (369,138 established precincts) used during the May 2016 elections.

But Garcia said on Monday that what the Robredo camp filed was a manifestation questioning the amount due for Marcos and not their own fee, so they still have to pay on the due date. – Rappler.com </s> VICE President Maria Leonor “Leni” Robredo said the poll recount for the 2016 Vice Presidential race starting today would be a fight for the truth.

The recount stemmed from a protest filed by former Sen. Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos, Jr. against Robredo, alleging fraud, in the 2016 vice presidential elections.

“This recount is, in a way, providential. The message of Easter is hope…hope that there will be light at the end of the tunnel; that the truth will prevail. When I started this journey, a lot of people thought that this [Vice Presidential] bid is hopeless. But we continued fighting because we believed we are doing the right thing. And we won, and we know that we are fighting for the truth here [in this poll recount],” Robredo said in a speech after a mass organized by her supporters at 6:30 a.m. on Monday, the start of the recount in Camarines Sur, Negros Oriental and Iloilo.

These were the provinces chosen by Marcos as “best exemplifying poll fraud” in accordance with the rules set by the Supreme Court acting as the Presidential Electoral Tribunal (PET).

“The fight is tough, the times are hard, but this has always been the lesson of my life. Everything came hard, but in the end, the light comes in. There is nothing to fear in this fight for the truth. This is the time of fear…fear of what is going to happen next…but we should have faith, continue the fight,” Robredo said.

“There are limitations, and we need to continue shining the light in darkness because if we quit, darkness will get worse. Many people are looking up to us to fight for them, that’s why we will soldier on,” said Robredo.

Robredo’s lawyer, Romulo Macalintal, for his part, is confident of Robredo’s chances that he is willing to give up lawyering if they lose.

“I will surrender my license to practice as a lawyer if Vice President Robredo loses this case,” Macalintal said.

“There are those who are asking me, ‘Do we have a chance?’ The right question would be, do they (Marcos’ camp) have a chance?,” Macalintal said. </s> The camp of Vice President Leni Robredo also says former senator Ferdinand Marcos Jr should be the first to pay the recount fee

MANILA, Philippines – Veteran election lawyer Romulo Macalintal said Monday, April 17, that former senator Ferdinand Marcos should pay P185 million, not just P66 million, in order for his election protest against Vice President Leni Robredo to proceed.

Macalintal, Robredo's lawyer, explained that Marcos' protest covers the entire election system since he questioned the integrity and reliability of the vote-counting machines (VCMs) and storage devices in 92,509 clustered precincts, which consist of 369,138 established precincts.

Robredo's legal team stressed that in Marcos' previous motion granted by the Supreme Court (SC), he asked for the protection of all VCMs, consolidating canvass system units, and SD cards in all precincts.

"That's his total obligation in his protest. While he said that he is contesting 36,000 precincts, what he's actually contesting is the entire clustered precincts, 92,000, that functioned during the 2016 election," said Macalintal as he gave reporters a summary of their camp's manifestation filed last April 12.

The manifestation was submitted before the SC, sitting as the Presidential Electoral Tribunal (PET), after it ordered Marcos and Robredo to pay P66 million and P15 million, respectively, as fee for the recount of the ballots being contested.

Both camps were given until Monday to settle the first tranche of the payment and until July 14 to pay the balance.

In his election case against Robredo, Marcos is questioning over 39,221 clustered precincts, composed of 132,446 established precincts. While he is only seeking a recount for 36,465 clustered precincts, the PET ordered him to pay for the established precincts he is questioning.

In Robredo's counter-protest, meanwhile, she is contesting 8,042 clustered precincts, consisting of 31,278 established precincts.

Marcos' lawyer Vic Rodriguez said they filed a motion for reconsideration last week, asking the court to compute for the clustered precincts being contested and not the established precincts.

Marcos' motion for reconsideration and Robredo's manifestation led to the suspension of the Monday deadline as the PET has yet to settle the issues raised.

Robredo's lawyers also argued that Marcos' protest caused the delay in the return of the VCMs leased by service provider Smartmatic to the Commission on Elections (Comelec). This incurred a P2.1-billion fee for the Comelec for failure to return on time.

Robredo's camp has asked the SC to instruct the Comelec to provide an itemized list of expenses stemming from the delay in the return of the VCMs.

Also included in Robredo's manifestation is her lawyers' argument that the Vice President should only pay for the required amount after Marcos has proven that there is sufficient basis in his protest by initiating the recount of the first batch of ballots.

Macalintal said that under the PET rules, the "initial reception of evidence" will proceed when the Marcos camp identifies 3 provinces where they could recover reports of poll fraud.

"Mr Marcos should first prove that they will be able to recover votes. He should first deposit the money and have the ballots opened for us to see that his protest has basis. Because why would we deposit P15 million but in the end, nothing will happen?" he said in a mix of English and Filipino.

The lawyer also highlighted that the payment of the PET fee, at P500 per precinct, is just the tip of the iceberg. Those involved in the case should also pay the revisors at least P1,500 each. Each revising team is composed of 3 revisors – a representative of the PET, and representatives from two contending camps.

Macalintal said this will cost both Marcos and Robredo another P775 million each for the whole duration of the protest.

Marcos, who lost the vice presidential race to Robredo by 263,473 votes, accused Robredo and the Liberal Party of orchestrating massive fraud in the May 2016 elections. His protest was filed in June last year. – Rappler.com </s> THE Supreme Court (SC), sitting as the Presidential Electoral Tribunal (PET), will start the recount of votes for the electoral protest filed by former senator Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. against Vice President Maria Leonor “Leni” Robredo on Monday.

The place for the revision of votes for the Marcos-Robredo electoral protest will be at the gymnasium at the 5th Floor of the SC-Court of Appeals (CA) Building in Padre Faura, Manila.

The recount will be conducted until Friday, from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., with two 15-minute breaks and a one-hour lunch break.

Lawyer Jose Lemuel Arenas, a PET ad hoc committee member, said the revision was the process of verifying the ballots, to recount the votes of the parties, and to record the objections or claims of the parties.

He said there were 5,418 clustered precincts that would cover the three pilot provinces of Camarines Sur, Iloilo and Negros Oriental, which were chosen by Marcos as the best provinces where he could prove the irregularities he cited in his poll protest.

Arenas said for each table, there will be three revisors – the head revisor (employee of PET), the protestant’s revisor and the protestee’s revisor.

The revisors will not be allowed to bring in their personal belongings, including their mobile phones, inside the venue. The PET has provided a locker for their belongings.

He noted that the time limit per ballot box with less than 300 votes would be 5.5 hours while for 300-700 votes would be 8.25 hours and for more than 700 votes would be 11 hours.

The tribunal is expecting some 213 personnel to come in per day during the recount. These include 60 employees of the tribunal, psychometricians, lawyers and representatives of both parties, and the revisors.

The revisors are part of the tribunal’s committee tasked to examine the contested ballots.

Arenas, said that the PET was currently housing some 1,400 ballot boxes from Camarines Sur.

Arenas said that other ballot boxes were currently with the Commission on Elections, due to storage issues.

Once the recount on the first 1,400 ballot boxes is done, the PET will receive the other ballot boxes from Camarines Sur, Iloilo and Negros Oriental.

Members of the Philippine National Police (PNP), the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG), the Police Security Protection Group and PET guards will secure the recount venue round-the-clock.

CCTVs were also installed on all four corners of the recount venue and the storage area.

Lawyer Ma. Carina Cunanan, another PET ad hoc committee member, said that the tribunal was expecting to augment 101 security personnel this coming week with more members of the PNP.

She added that the parties would not be allowed to bring in their security.

The PET said it still could not determine when the recount would be finished.

The recount was initially scheduled in February, was later reset to March 19, and again moved to April 2.

Both camps agreed to withdraw all motions they had filed before the PET to be able to proceed with the recount.

Marcos filed the protest on June 29, 2016, claiming that the camp of Robredo cheated in the automated polls in May that year.

In his protest, Marcos contested the results from 132,446 precincts in 39,221 clusters, covering 27 provinces and cities.

In his preliminary conference briefing, Marcos also sought for a recount in Camarines Sur, Iloilo and Negros Oriental.

Robredo filed her answer in August 2017 and also submitted a counter-protest, questioning the results from more than 30,000 polling precincts in several provinces where Marcos won.

She also sought the dismissal of the protest for lack of merit and jurisdiction of the PET.

The high tribunal, in a ruling in early 2018, junked Robredo’s plea and proceeded with the case after finding the protest sufficient in form and substance.

Robredo won the vice presidential race in the May 2016 polls with 14,418,817 votes or 263,473 more than Marcos’ 14,155,344 votes. PNA </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.
The manual recount of the votes begin for the 2016 vice presidential candidates, former Senator Bongbong Marcos and incumbent Vice President Leni Robredo.