UP Prof. Rhodora Bucoy and other members of groups supporting vice presidential candidate and Camarines Rep. Leni Robredo elaborate on the Marcos legacy to the country’s elections. (CDN PHOTO/LITO TECSON)
Groups backing Liberal Party vice presidential candidate and Camarines Sur Rep. Leni Robredo called on Sen. Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. to concede yesterday.
Lawyer Levi Wee of Cebu for Leni told reporters that Marcos’s allegation that Robredo cheated her way in the vice presidential race is an “insult.”
“She (Leni) has always been advocating for a clean, honest election. They’re just making noise to cast doubts on her victory,” Wee said.
Wee said she has known Robredo since 1996 when they were both lawyers working for a non-government organization.
Lawyer Susan Echavez of Cebu Women for Leni said creating a scenario is a known Marcos propaganda tactic.
She even alleged that Marcos was giving “gifts” to some local government units when they were invited to a gathering last Saturday or two days before the election at a restaurant in Mandaue City.
The Marcos camp through its representative Perla Leoncio denied Echavez’s claim, saying that the senator was with Sen. Miriam Santiago in their miting de avance in another place.
In a statement read by retired UP Professor Rhodora Bucoy of the Coalition Against the Return of the Marcoses to Malacañang (CARMMA), the group said Bongbong watched and learned how cheating was done during his father’s stint as president.
“We have not forgotten how a manual count cheated (the late senator) Ninoy Aquino and made Bongbong’s mother Imelda win a legislative seat in 1978. To silence the opposition, the dictator hauled the protesters led by Lorenzo ‘Ka Tanny’ Tanada to jail,” the statement said.
The group said they haven’t forgotten how a manual count robbed former Cebu opposition Ribomapil “Odong” Holganza of victory.
“Cebuanos witnessed how the pro-Marcos military and goons suppressed the popular protests that left Raul Pintoy dead in front of the Provincial Capitol building,” it further read.
In Cebu province, results of the canvassing showed that Robredo got most of the votes from 38 towns and cities in the province except the towns of Malabuyoc, Santander and Cordova as of 5 p.m. last Tuesday.
The canvassed results of these areas have yet to be transmitted as of yesterday.
Robredo received 570,350 votes compared to Bongbong’s 143,486, where he placed third among the other vice presidential candidates.
Sen. Alan Peter Cayetano followed Robredo with 435,046 votes.