THE camp of former Metro Manila Development Authority chairman Francis Tolentino, who placed 13th in the May 2016 senatorial race, on Thursday said they have “discovered another anomaly” during a vote recount at the Senate Electoral Tribunal in Quezon City in connection with his poll protest against detained Senator Leila de Lima.
In a statement, Sara Mawis, one of Tolentino’s lawyers, said most of the 10 ballot boxes from Pagbilao, Quezon for the 2016 senatorial elections contained ballots used during the 2013 elections.
“We are at loss on how to approach this controversy but it really showed irregularities as per revision as shown by the said 2013 ballots,” she said.
According to Mawis, the incident was the second time that they discovered such irregularity.
During the initial recount, ballot boxes from Calbayog, Samar also contained 2013 election ballots, she said.
In October 2016, Tolentino filed an election protest before SET to unseat De Lima, who ran under the ruling administration party of then President Benigno Aquino III.
The senator led Tolentino by 1.3- million votes.
The former MMDA chief claimed he was cheated through electronic transmission.