Robredo camp urges Marcos: Respect democratic process

Bea Cupin

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Robredo camp urges Marcos: Respect democratic process
'The people have spoken, and it's clear Congresswoman Leni Robredo is leading,' says a spokesperson

MANILA, Philippines – As more and more precincts transmit the voting results from May 9, the camp of Liberal Party (LP) vice presidential candidate and poll front runner Leni Robredo continued to call on her chief rival, Senator Ferdinand Marcos, Jr., to “respect the electoral process.” 

Sa amin naman, sana galangin natin ang proseso. Nagsalita na ang taumbayan, malinaw naman po na lamang si Cong. Leni Robredo. Hindi namin alam kung saan nanggagaling ang alegasyong ito. Consistent ang sinasabi ng Comelec, ang sinasabi ng foreign observers,” Georgina Hernandez told media during a Thursday, May 12 briefing in Quezon City. 

(We hope they respect the electoral process. The people have spoken, and it’s clear that Congresswoman Leni Robredo is leading. We do not know where these allegations are coming from. But Comelec and foreign observers have been consistent [in saying no cheating happened].)

Marcos has been accusing the Robredo camp and the ruling party of supposedly manipulating votes. The senator led the early hours partial, unofficial count based on direct transmissions from precincts through the transparency survey. Marcos peaked at over 900,000 votes the evening of May 9, but Robredo slowly cut down that lead and eventually overtook the senator by the early hours of May 10. 

As of 6:56 pm Thursday, Robredo led Marcos by over 216,923 votes in the partial, unofficial count representing 95.87% of precincts.

Added Hernandez, a longtime volunteer of the Robredo campaign: “Sana respetuhin ang democratic exercise at sana tayo ay magkaisa, magsama-sama para makapag-move on na tayo at makapagsimula sa pagsisilbi sa taumbayan.”

(Hopefully they respect this democratic exercise and we unite and work together so can move on and start serving the Filipino people.) 

During a separate briefing on Thursday, the Comelec clarified that the “new script” was a mere “cosmetic” change and that did nothing to affect the results of the count. Earlier, Hernandez had pointed out that contrary to insinuations that the script caused Robredo’s vote to surge, Marcos’ lead over the Camarines Sur representative even peaked after the script was inserted. 

On Wednesday, the camp of Marcos raised alarm over the supposed insertion of a “new script” as votes were being transmitted. The Marcos camp admitted it was not sure of the consequences of the supposed insertion, but asked the Commission on Elections (Comelec) for an explanation. 

The script, the Comelec explained, was inserted so that the “ñ” in the names of candidates would show up in the tally. 

While the presidential race is practically over, the vice presidential race is a close one. Earlier preference surveys showed Robredo and Marcos at a statistical tie in the race. Robredo’s camp had earlier predicted a victory of around 226,000 votes. – Rappler.com

 

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Bea Cupin

Bea is a senior multimedia reporter who covers national politics. She's been a journalist since 2011 and has written about Congress, the national police, and the Liberal Party for Rappler.