Losing vice presidential candidate and former Sen. Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. on Monday paid P36 million to the Supreme Court as first installment of the required fee for the retrieval of election materials for his election protest against Vice President Leni Robredo.

In an ambush interview with reporters, Marcos said he was hoping that his compliance to the high court’s order would “go a long way to get the process started.”

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“Galing ako sa Office of the Clerk of Court at ako ay nag-comply sa order na bayaran ang first tranche para sa protest ko. Kahit na merong kaming mga disagreement sa pagkalkula dahil pinagbabayad kami kahit na Semana Santa,” Marcos said.

“Masyado nang matagal ang isang taon. Hanggang ngayon ay hindi pa alam ng taong bayan kung sino talaga ang nanalo bilang Bise Presidente, kaya palagay ko ang isang taon ay masyado nang mahaba. Sana ang ating magigiting na justices ay simulant na ang process sa paghusga kung sino ba talaga ang nanalo sa nakaraang halalan,” he added.

The SC, sitting as Presidential Electoral Tribunal, ordered Marcos to pay a total of P66.2 million for the precincts he was contesting. In his protest, the late dictator’s son and namesake urged the court to order the immediate collection, retrieval, transport, and delivery of all ballot boxes in 39,221 clustered precincts or equivalent to 132,446 established precincts.

Robredo, meanwhile, was required to pay P15,639,000. In her counter-protest, the duly elected Vice President questioned 8,042 clustered precincts or 31,278 established precincts.

Both camps were ordered to pay in two tranches. The first installment was supposed to be received last April 14, Good Friday, but the date fell on a national holiday. The deadline for the second installment is on July 14. JE/rga

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MOST READ</s>(3rd UPDATE) The defeated vice presidential candidate says friends and supporters pulled in resources to raise the P36 million

MANILA, Philippines (3rd UPDATE) – Former senator Ferdinand Marcos Jr paid the first installment of the recount fee that the Supreme Court (SC) ordered him to pay so his election protest against Vice President Leni Robredo would proceed.

Marcos went to the SC, sitting as the Presidential Electoral Tribunal (PET), on Monday, April 17 – the deadline for payment of the first tranche of P36 million.

The defeated vice presidential candidate said friends and supporters pulled in resources to raise the P36 million.

The second installment of P30 million should be paid on or before July 14.

"Masyado nang matagal ang isang taon. Mag-iisang taon na mula nung nakaraang halalan, hanggang ngayon hindi pa alam ng taong bayan kung sino ba talaga ang nanalo bilang bise presidente," said Marcos in a brief interview.

"I hope this compliance we have done [with] the SC order will go a long way of getting the process started," he added.

In a resolution dated March 21, the SC had ordered Marcos and Robredo to pay a combined P81 million for the recount of the contested ballots in the 2016 vice presidential race.

Robredo was ordered to pay P8 million for the first tranche and P7.43 million for the second.

Marcos filed an election protest against Robredo in June 2016, contesting 39,221 clustered precincts which are composed of 132,446 established precincts. Robredo, meanwhile, filed a counter-protest, questioning 8,042 clustered precincts which are composed of 31,278 established precincts.

After the SC ordered both camps to pay the recount fees, Marcos' camp argued that the computation of the fee must be based on the clustered precincts being contested and not the established precincts.

The lawyers of the defeated vice presidential candidate also said that they are only seeking a recount of the ballots in 36,465 out of the 39,221 clustered precincts.

But Marcos' lawyer and spokesperson Vic Rodriguez clarified that they were unable to file a motion for reconsideration last Wednesday, April 12, since the SC was on half-day duty because of Holy Week.

Filing a motion for reconsideration now, however, would appear contradictory to their move on Monday, said Marcos' lead counsel George Garcia.

They will, however, file a motion to dismiss Robredo's counter-protest against Marcos on the basis that the Vice President's camp failed to pay the amount required of them.

Robredo had filed a manifestation last Wednesday, saying Marcos should be first to pay the fee and initiate the opening of ballots from 3 chosen provinces to prove that his protest has sufficient basis.

The Vice President's lawyers also said Marcos should pay P185 million instead of P66 million because his first pleading before the PET sought the protection of election paraphernalia in all 92,509 clustered precincts (369,138 established precincts) used during the May 2016 elections.

But Garcia said on Monday that what the Robredo camp filed was a manifestation questioning the amount due for Marcos and not their own fee, so they still have to pay on the due date. – Rappler.com</s>Philippine Senator Ferdinand Marcos Jr., son of late dictator Ferdinand Marcos, gestures while listening to a question during a forum at a bakery in Quezon city, metro Manila October 7, 2015. — Reuters picMANILA, April 17 — The son of former Philippine dictator Ferdinand Marcos today took a step towards securing a recount of votes in an election for vice president last year in which he says he was unfairly robbed of victory.

The son, also called Ferdinand Marcos but popularly known as Bongbong, lost the election for vice president last May to social activist and lawyer Leni Robredo by about 260,000 votes.

He has objected to the result ever since and the Supreme Court ruled in February that his protest was valid, but he has to pay for a recount of the votes.

On Monday, he deposited about 36 million pesos (RM3.2 million) as payment for a recount of votes in 42 percent of polling precincts.

“It’s good I have kind-hearted friends. They believe in my election protest because it is right, just and fair,” Marcos told reporters after signing a check.

He did not elaborate on his friends.

Robredo’s relationship with President Rodrigo Duterte is far from close and he has frequently made jokes in public at her expense.

She has been critical of some of his policies, including his deadly war on drugs, and delivered a video message to a UN human rights conference in Geneva last month.

She also opposed the burial of the late dictator Marcos at a heroes’ cemetery.

Last year, Duterte instructed aides to tell Robredo to cease attending his Cabinet meetings, prompting her to resign as housing minister, though she remained vice president.

Rumors have swirled that Duterte favors Marcos but Duterte has denied he is trying to oust Robredo. Presidents and vice presidents are elected separately in the Philippines.

Marcos has until July 14 to pay another 30 million pesos to complete recounting votes in more than 39,000 polling precincts nationwide.

He said vote-counting machines were manipulated to favour of Robredo. She has challenged his protest in the high court saying he had not specifically said where the supposed irregularities took place.

Duterte’s father, a former governor in Mindanao province, served under the elder Marcos when he was first elected president in 1965.

Marcos was ousted in protests in 1986 and died in Hawaii in 1989. — Reuters</s>The camp of Vice President Leni Robredo has asked the Supreme Court, sitting as the Presidential Electoral Tribunal (PET), to allow her to pay the cash deposit for her counterprotest at a later time pending determination of the merits of the poll protest filed by losing candidate former Sen. Bongbong Marcos.

Lawyer Romulo Macalintal, Robredo’s counsel, said the usual procedure was for the protestant (Marcos) to pay the cash deposit first for the opening of the ballots.

“Mr. Marcos would have to demonstrate that he could recover ballots sufficient to overcome the vote lead of Vice President Robredo,” Macalintal said in a press briefing on Monday.

The PET has ordered Marcos to pay P66 million for the precincts covered by his protest while Robredo was ordered to pay P15 million for her counter protest.

The cash deposits can be made in two tranches with the first installment due on April 14.

“Under the rules, the PET will direct Marcos to choose three provinces for the initial reception of evidence. And if there is basis for the protest, then that’s the time we will talk about the deposits,” Macalintal said.

In their manifestation, Macalintal said Marcos should even pay P185 million since the first cause of action of his protest questioned the integrity of the vote counting machines in all 92,509 clustered precincts equivalent to 369,138 established precincts.

Meanwhile, Marcos on Monday went to the Supreme Court to personally witness the payment of P36 million in filing fee for his election protest against Robredo.

The son and namesake of the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos claimed the money did not come from his own pocket, but was raised by 40 of his friends and supporters as he could not immediately come up with the amount set by the high court.

Among those who donated for his filing fee were a certain Alfredo Roa and Ruby Diaz Roa, who, as Marcos admitted, could be related to President Duterte.

“My friends and others who are close to me initiated it. They were the ones who went around to get help, support and collected the money for us to come up with P36 million,” Marcos told reporters.—ERIKA SAULER AND MARLON RAMOS</s>The camp of Vice President Leni Robredo also says former senator Ferdinand Marcos Jr should be the first to pay the recount fee

MANILA, Philippines – Veteran election lawyer Romulo Macalintal said Monday, April 17, that former senator Ferdinand Marcos should pay P185 million, not just P66 million, in order for his election protest against Vice President Leni Robredo to proceed.

Macalintal, Robredo's lawyer, explained that Marcos' protest covers the entire election system since he questioned the integrity and reliability of the vote-counting machines (VCMs) and storage devices in 92,509 clustered precincts, which consist of 369,138 established precincts.

Robredo's legal team stressed that in Marcos' previous motion granted by the Supreme Court (SC), he asked for the protection of all VCMs, consolidating canvass system units, and SD cards in all precincts.

"That's his total obligation in his protest. While he said that he is contesting 36,000 precincts, what he's actually contesting is the entire clustered precincts, 92,000, that functioned during the 2016 election," said Macalintal as he gave reporters a summary of their camp's manifestation filed last April 12.

The manifestation was submitted before the SC, sitting as the Presidential Electoral Tribunal (PET), after it ordered Marcos and Robredo to pay P66 million and P15 million, respectively, as fee for the recount of the ballots being contested.

Both camps were given until Monday to settle the first tranche of the payment and until July 14 to pay the balance.

In his election case against Robredo, Marcos is questioning over 39,221 clustered precincts, composed of 132,446 established precincts. While he is only seeking a recount for 36,465 clustered precincts, the PET ordered him to pay for the established precincts he is questioning.

In Robredo's counter-protest, meanwhile, she is contesting 8,042 clustered precincts, consisting of 31,278 established precincts.

Marcos' lawyer Vic Rodriguez said they filed a motion for reconsideration last week, asking the court to compute for the clustered precincts being contested and not the established precincts.

Marcos' motion for reconsideration and Robredo's manifestation led to the suspension of the Monday deadline as the PET has yet to settle the issues raised.

Robredo's lawyers also argued that Marcos' protest caused the delay in the return of the VCMs leased by service provider Smartmatic to the Commission on Elections (Comelec). This incurred a P2.1-billion fee for the Comelec for failure to return on time.

Robredo's camp has asked the SC to instruct the Comelec to provide an itemized list of expenses stemming from the delay in the return of the VCMs.

Also included in Robredo's manifestation is her lawyers' argument that the Vice President should only pay for the required amount after Marcos has proven that there is sufficient basis in his protest by initiating the recount of the first batch of ballots.

Macalintal said that under the PET rules, the "initial reception of evidence" will proceed when the Marcos camp identifies 3 provinces where they could recover reports of poll fraud.

"Mr Marcos should first prove that they will be able to recover votes. He should first deposit the money and have the ballots opened for us to see that his protest has basis. Because why would we deposit P15 million but in the end, nothing will happen?" he said in a mix of English and Filipino.

The lawyer also highlighted that the payment of the PET fee, at P500 per precinct, is just the tip of the iceberg. Those involved in the case should also pay the revisors at least P1,500 each. Each revising team is composed of 3 revisors – a representative of the PET, and representatives from two contending camps.

Macalintal said this will cost both Marcos and Robredo another P775 million each for the whole duration of the protest.

Marcos, who lost the vice presidential race to Robredo by 263,473 votes, accused Robredo and the Liberal Party of orchestrating massive fraud in the May 2016 elections. His protest was filed in June last year. – Rappler.com</s>THE electoral protest filed by former senator Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. against Vice President Maria Leonor “Leni” Robredo has started to roll with the former paying on Monday P36 million, his first installment for the P66 million protest fee required by the Supreme Court (SC).

The High Court, sitting as Presidential Electoral Tribunal, gave Marcos until April 17, 2017, to deposit the money with the tribunal.

The P30 million balance should be paid on or before July 14.

The court also ordered Robredo to pay P15.7 million.

Marcos personally went to the court to pay P36,023,000. The check was received by Jeffrey Raymond Atienza, Assistant Officer in Charge of the Cash Collection and Distribution Division of the Fiscal Management and Budget Office.

“My close friends contributed to raise the P36 million, even supporters who accompanied me here have chipped in because the time given to raise the P66.2-million was not enough,” Marcos said.

Hundreds of Marcos loyalists waited for the former lawmaker outside the Supreme Court building on Padre Faura St. in Manila.

“Hanggang ngayon hindi pa alam ng taumbayan kung sino ba talaga ang nanalong bise presidente noong nakaraang halalan. Sa palagay ko ang isang taon ay masyado nang mahaba (Up to this day, the people do not know who really won in the vice presidential election. I think one year of waiting is enough),” Marcos told reporters.

“Kaya sana ang ating mga magigiting na justice ay simulan na ang proseso ng paghuhusga kung sino ba talaga ang nanalo sa nakaraang halalan. Ipagpapatuloy natin ang protesta (I hope that the justices will now start the process of resolving this case. We will continue with the protest). I hope this compliance we have done to the Supreme Court’s order will go a long way to getting the process right,” he added.

Forty friends and supporters of Marcos said they pooled their resources to help the former senator raise the needed amount on time.

Marcos, through his lawyer George Erwin Garcia, received the SC’s order dated March 21, 2017 on April 10, 2017 requiring him to pay P66 million.

The P200,000 filing fee paid by Marcos when he filed the protest had been deducted from the cost requirement.

 “Since President-Mayor Joseph Estrada declared Wednesday (April 12) as a non-working holiday for all government employees in Manila, the offices of the Supreme Court were closed on Wednesday (April 12), Holy

 Thursday (April 13) & Good Friday (April 14). Thus, if Bongbong were to comply with the April 14 deadline that would give him less than 48 hours to come up with P36 million. In order not to delay the proceedings any further, we decided to pool our resources so that the cash deposit of P36 million would be paid,” friends of Marcos said in a letter submitted to the SC.

“We have done this because it is our heartfelt wish that the election protest be resolved with dispatch,” the added.

 “Ten months is too long for this open wound to fester. This insecurity and instability is not good for the country.”

 Marcos was required to pay P500 for each of the 132,446 precincts where a recount will be held.

In his complaint, the former senator assailed the election results in 39,221 clustered precincts. Based on the Commission on Elections data, the 39,221 clustered precincts are composed of 132,446 precincts.

Robredo had sought the dismissal of the poll protest but the high tribunal dismissed her petition. The PET junked Robredo’s claim that the grounds cited by Marcos in his complaint are just a “series of wild accusations, guesses, and surmises.”

Recently, the PET ordered the preservation of the “automated election equipment and records such as Vote Counting Machines (VCM), Consolidation and Canvass System ()CCs) units, Secure Digital (SD) cards (main and back up), and the other data storage devices in all of the 92,509 clustered precincts used in the May 2016 elections.”

Marcos lost to Robredo by only 263,473 votes. He claimed that he was a victim of “massive electoral fraud, anomalies and irregularities” such as preshading of ballots, pre-loaded Secure Digital cards, misreading of ballots, malfunctioning VCMs, and an “abnormally high” unaccounted votes/undervotes for the position of VP.

Robredo’s camp on Monday said Marcos should pay P185 million for his election protest.

Romulo Macalintal, the lead counsel of Robredo, noted that Marcos’ dues should be P185 million because Marcos is protesting the results of all 369,138 established precincts.

“Mr. Marcos should pay P185 million because it is worth P500 per established precinct not a clustered precinct, a decision already made by the PET. In fact, the technology provider Smartmatic is already billing the Comelec to the tune of P2.9 billion because the Comelec failed to return the leased VCMs on time due to the pending Marcos case,” Macalintal said.

He added that while Marcos is questioning the election results in 662 municipalities, he was only able to provide detailed specification of his poll fraud allegation in 57 municipalities.

Macalintal said Robredo will not pay the fee required by the tribunal just yet.

“He is the one filing a protest, so he should make the first cash deposit. We have to see first if the votes recovered from the recount due to Marcos’ protest will be enough to overcome the Vice President’s winning margin,” the lawyer said.

“While payment of the cash deposit would have to be complied with, the Robredo camp asked the PET to allow her to comply with the order of payment at a later time because we can’t pay the cash deposit unless the merits of Mr. Marcos’s election protest has been determined,” Macalintal explained. “We believe that we should not pay the cash deposit at this point, in accordance to the PET rules.”</s>'We have done this because it is our heartfelt wish that the election protest be resolved with dispatch,' the donors are quoted as saying

Former senator Ferdinand Marcos Jr on Monday, April 17, paid the first installment of the fee required for his election protest to progress.

Marcos insists Vice President Leni Robredo cheated her way to victory, and his compliance with the Supreme Court's order to pay for the recount of ballots is one step forward in his legal battle.

The P36 million he forked over on Monday will be followed by P30 million more due on or before July 14, for a total of P66 million.

But the former senator did not seem keen on paying the amount at first. His lawyer and spokesperson Vic Rodriguez said last Wednesday, April 12, that they would file a motion for reconsideration questioning why the computation was based on the number of established precincts and not clustered precincts. (READ: Marcos must pay P185M for all poll precincts, says Robredo lawyer)

Rodriguez also said they were given too short a time to raise the funds – the SC issued its resolution on March 21 but it was made public only on April 10, with a deadline that happened to fall on a holiday (Good Friday, April 14), so it was moved to Monday.

"Was this a deliberate act of impounding the resolution so that BBM (Bongbong Marcos) will not be able to comply given the very limited amount of time due to the Holy Week break?" the lawyer added.

But Marcos said on Monday that they went ahead with the payment after "friends and supporters" pitched in.

"Masyado kaming minadali. Gaya ng sabi ko, mabuti na lang na maraming lumapit at nag-offer na tumulong," the defeated vice presidential candidate said.

Marcos said his donors – 40 in total – pooled the funds over the Holy Week break to make it to the Monday deadline.

In a letter that Marcos submitted to the SC, the donors were quoted as saying: "We have done this because it is our heartfelt wish that the election protest be resolved with dispatch... 10 months is too long for this open wound to fester. This insecurity and instability is not good for the country."

Below are the names of the people who Marcos said came to his aid.</s>Losing vice presidential candidate and former Sen. Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. on Monday paid P36 million to the Supreme Court as first installment of the required fee for the retrieval of election materials for his election protest against Vice President Leni Robredo.

In an ambush interview with reporters, Marcos said he was hoping that his compliance to the high court’s order would “go a long way to get the process started.”

“Galing ako sa Office of the Clerk of Court at ako ay nag-comply sa order na bayaran ang first tranche para sa protest ko. Kahit na merong kaming mga disagreement sa pagkalkula dahil pinagbabayad kami kahit na Semana Santa,” Marcos said.

The SC, sitting as Presidential Electoral Tribunal, ordered Marcos to pay a total of P66.2 million for the precincts he was contesting. In his protest, the late dictator’s son and namesake urged the court to order the immediate collection, retrieval, transport, and delivery of all ballot boxes in 39,221 clustered precincts or equivalent to 132,446 established precincts.

Robredo, meanwhile, was required to pay P15,639,000. In her counter-protest, the duly elected Vice President questioned 8,042 clustered precincts or 31,278 established precincts.

Both camps were ordered to pay in two tranches. The first installment was supposed to be received last April 14, Good Friday, but the date fell on a national holiday. The deadline for the second installment is on July 14. JE/rga
Bongbong Marcos pays ₱36 million, half of the required amount to hold a recount against Philippine vice president Leni Robredo.