MANILA — Supporters of Vice President Leni Robredo from Camarines Sur urged the Supreme Court, which is also sitting as Presidential Electoral Tribunal (PET), to uphold the 25 percent shading threshold in determining the validity of votes in the vice presidential race during the 2016 national elections.
President of Batutilan Bicol Trinity Mayor and Atty. Leni G. Robredo Volunteers (ALEGRO) member Irene Sacbibit called on PET to reconsider its earlier decision and allow the use of the 25-percent threshold to avoid the massive disenfranchisement of votes.
Mayor and Sacbibit on Wednesday submitted a letter with 10,000 signatures of voters from Camarines Sur, urging the PET to use the right threshold instead of the 50-percent threshold in connection with the election protest of former senator Ferdinand “Bong Bong” Marcos Jr. who also ran for vice president in the 2016 polls.
In the letter, the group said the PET’s decision to allow the use of the 50-percent threshold is a clear violation of the law and will render their vote for vice president useless.
“Kaming mga botanteng Pilipino ay umaasang pakikinggan ang aming tinig sa pamamagitan ng aming sagradong kapasyahan sa balota (We Filipino voters are hopeful that our voices would be recognized through our sacred decision on the ballots),” the letter read.
The move is in support of the appeal of Robredo’s camp asking to apply the 25 percent threshold that the Commission on Elections applied during the polls.
Together with the other voters, Mayor and Sacbibit said that “they are confident that the PET will abide by its sworn duty to uphold the 1987 Constitution and fight for the rights of all Filipino.”
Earlier, the PET had denied Robredo’s motion to consider ballot ovals shaded by a minimum of 25 percent as valid votes in the ongoing vote recount.
The tribunal also noted the absence of a poll body document that lowered the threshold to 25 percent in the 2016 elections from the 50-percent threshold set in the 2010 polls.
The recount of votes for the vice presidential race started last month and included are ballots from Camarines Sur, Robredo’s home province. (PNA)
