TACLOBAN CITY—Senator Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. on Wednesday aired his frustration over the snail-paced progress of his election protest against Vice President Leni Robredo last year.
“It’s ongoing, but we find it very slow. We‘re just in the beginning to recover the ballot boxes and start the recount of the ballots,” Marcos told reporters in Tacloban.
“The Supreme Court and the Presidential Electoral Tribunal should prioritize this. Hindi pwede ibitin ang taong bayan. It is important an issue to be left deferred,” he said.
Marcos added that they are waiting for the Tribunal for them to present evidence, and when that time comes his camp will show what the weaknesses are in the country’s electoral system.
Meanwhile, the senator hit Smartmatic as it joined another bidding for the 2019 elections.
“Dapat ikulong yan dahil puro pandaraya ang kanilang ginagawa,” he said.
Aside from hitting Smartmatic, Marcos also criticized Robredo’s camp for allegedly doing many things to hinder the recount.
“Bakit ang kalaban ko ang ginagawa ay pagharang. If she believes that she won she should be the one rushing for us,” he said.
According to the senator, the easiest is to open the boxes and count the vote if his rival wanted to know that she really won.
“I don’t understand why my opponent wants to delay. They are afraid of what they will find,” he said.
He, however, feared that his protest will last until 2019.
“I think they want it to be finished in 2019, so I may be forced to run or forget my protest,” he said.
Marcos had protested on the 39,221 clustered precincts, while seeking a manual recount of votes in 36,445 precincts and the dissolution of the election results in the remaining 2,756 precincts in June 2016.
Robredo, in her counterprotest, reportedly contested 8,042 clustered precincts comprising the 31,278 established precincts.