SC gives Robredo 5 days to pay P8-M deposit for vote recount

MANILA, Philippines – The Supreme Court, as the Presidential Electoral Tribunal (PET), on Tuesday, April 25, order Vice President Leni Robredo to pay the first installment of P8 million for the recount of votes in the protest filed by former Senator Ferdinand Marcos Jr. 

The PET gave the Vice President an non-extendible period of 5 days to make the deposit. 

The tribunal earlier ordered Marcos and Robredo to pay a service fee for the precincts they are contesting. Marcos, who is contesting over 39,000 clustered precincts, was ordered to pay P66 million. Robredo was required to pay P15 million for the 8,042 clustered precincts she is questioning.

Robredo’s camp has been questioning the order for her to cough up the amount, initially arguing that Marcos should first be ordered to pay P185 million for all the precincts, and not just P66 million for the precincts where he wants the vote reviewed. Her lawyer Romeo Macalintal said this is because Marcos effectively questioned the entire electoral results because he questioned the integrity of the vote-counting machines. 

Although Marcos himself initially resisted making the deposit required of him, he eventually paid the first installment of P36 million, saying his friends pooled resources for him to meet the deadline set by the PET. 

More recently, Robredo’s lawyer said they would only pay the deposit after the recount of ballots questioned by Marcos is completed.

Supreme Court spokesman Ted Te said on Tuesday the tribunal deferred ruling on Marcos’ motion to dismiss Robredo’s counter-protest. – Rappler.com