MANILA – The Partido Demokratiko Pilipino (PDP)-Laban has filed a petition seeking for a manual recount of senatorial votes during the recently concluded midterm elections.
Atty. Israelito Torreon, PDP-Laban legal counsel, filed the Motion For Leave To File Supplemental Petition for Mandamus before the Supreme Court on Monday morning.
Torreon said the call for the recount is based on Republic Act No. 9369 or the Automated Election System Act and Republic Act and Batas Pambansa Blg. 881 or the Omnibus Election Code.
The PDP-Laban also noted that Section 31 of RA No. 9369 mandates the traditional manual counting of votes to ensure free, honest and credible elections.
Among the cited irregularities were the discovery of equipment such as Starlink transmission devices and solar panels in a private residence in Barangay Buhangin, Davao City, highlighting “potential conflict of interest.”
“The proposed supplemental petition is being submitted together with this motion and it seeks merely to incorporate the updated facts or recent developments – transactions, occurrences, or events which have happened subsequent to the filing of the original petition – to aid in the full, fair, and fast adjudication of the issues already raised in the original petition,” PDP-Laban said.
The party also alleged that there were rampant mismatches between actual ballot and voter receipt as well as more than 17 million senatorial votes excluded in the tally as “overvotes.”
“What is essential is that the mandated process under our prevailing election laws be carried out, so that the truth may be known, accountability may be identified and exacted, and public confidence in the electoral process may be restored,” the PDP-Laban said.
Vice President Sara Duterte-Carpio has previously claimed that there was fraud in the recent elections, saying that three more PDP bets “won” aside from Christopher “Bong” Go, Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa, and Rodante Marcoleta.
Duterte-Carpio said in an event in Malaysia she spoke to information technology experts who said it was impossible that the numbers that came out in the elections were true and has urged PDP to question how the counting process was done./PN
