Robredo asks SC to ‘immediately resolve’ probe into Chong’s claims

Mara Cepeda

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Robredo asks SC to ‘immediately resolve’ probe into Chong’s claims
Vice President Leni Robredo's lawyers continue to question how ex-Biliran representative Glenn Chong supposedly got audit logs from Ragay, Camarines Sur, to allege electoral fraud in 2016

POLL FRAUD ACCUSER. Ex-Biliran representative Glenn Chong alleges poll fraud in the 2016 vice presidential election. File photo by Angie de Silva/Rappler

MANILA, Philippines – The lawyers of Vice President Leni Robredo asked the Supreme Court (SC) to immediately resolve the poll fraud accusations of lawyer Glenn Chong regarding the 2016 vice presidential election.

The Vice President’s legal counsels Romy Macalintal and Bernadette Sardillo filed with the SC, acting as the Presidential Electoral Tribunal (PET), their urgent motion for the immediate investigation of the matter on Tuesday, November 27, a copy of which was sent to reporters on Thursday, November 29.

“Atty Glenn Chong has not addressed the real issue. Instead, Atty Glenn Chong submitted a discourse on alleged electoral fraud which are immaterial to the real issue – how was he able to get copies of the audit logs from the municipality of Ragay, Camarines Sur? That question remains unanswered,” said Robredo’s lawyers.

The Robredo team earlier filed a motion for the PET to investigate how Chong, former Biliran representative, was able to access audit logs from Ragay to support his allegations.

Former senator Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr had picked Camarines Sur, Robredo’s home province, as one of the 3 pilot provinces for the initial ballot recount in the electoral protest he filed against the Vice President. 

Chong has since told the PET that he obtained the audit logs from the camp of Luis Villafuerte, who filed his own electoral protest against incumbent Camarines Sur 3rd District Representative Gabriel Bordado, who is from the Liberal Party like party chairperson Robredo.

But the Robredo camp argued that Chong could not possibly have gotten the audit logs from the Villafuerte camp, because Ragay is not part of the legislative district that Villafuerte’s election case covers. Ragay is part of Camarines Sur’s 1st District.

In the same motion, Robredo’s lawyers also pointed out that Chong was present during the ballot stripping and turnover activities by the Commission on Elections (Comelec) in Santa Rosa, Laguna, even if he is not a party to the case. 

Macalintal and Sardillo also want the PET to disregard the comment filed by lawyer Al Vitangcol III on behalf of Chong, claiming “there is no evidence” that Chong had authorized Vitangcol to file a comment for him.

The Marcos camp already disowned Chong, saying the latter was never part of their legal team.  

Still, they said it was one of their members, lawyer Jose Amor Amorado, who had included Chong to be a witness and observer in the proceedings in Laguna. But the Marcos camp clarified Amorado did so only as an “accommodation” given to Chong over his “advocacy for clean and honest elections.” 

Read a full copy of the Robredo camp’s motion below:

– Rappler.com

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Mara Cepeda

Mara Cepeda specializes in stories about politics and local governance. She covers the Office of the Vice President, the Senate, and the Philippine opposition. She is a 2021 fellow of the Asia Journalism Fellowship and the Reham al-Farra Memorial Journalism Fellowship of the UN. Got tips? Email her at mara.cepeda@rappler.com or tweet @maracepeda.