Wet Ballots Reveal Votes for Bongbong Marcos, Paper Forensic Expert Says

Most of the wet ballots found on Monday, April 2, the first day of the manual vote recount for the vice-presidential race, had votes for former Senator Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. This is according to an independent group of paper forensic that was tasked by the Presidential Electoral Tribunal (PET) to analyze the wet ballots.

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“Based on our sampling analysis, 457 out of 500 wet ballots (around 91 percent) have shade on the box beside the name of Mr. (Bongbong) Marcos. Using our electrostatic detection apparatus (ESDA), we can also conclude that the ballots have gotten wet not longer than six months.” Daniel Hapit, leader of the paper forensic team, told reporters, Tuesday.

According to Hapit, the Supreme Court (SC) which sits as the Presidential Electoral Tribunal (PET) sent them the 500 ballots that there randomly taken from the 42 ballot boxes that were used by 42 clustered precincts in Bato, Camarines Sur. This is after Marcos complained that all the ballot boxes were wet and had illegible contents.

Must Watch: PET Discovers Ballot Boxes in CamSur Have No Voters’ Receipt (Video)

"Hindi namin maintindihan papaano nabasa, imposible naman siguro na dalawang taong basa 'yan. Palagay ko, kailangan talaga pag-aralan kung paano nangyari 'yan. Ibig sabihin kasi kung may nagbasa, may nagbukas nung ballot box," Marcos said, who lost the vice-presidential race from Vice President Leni Robredo by only 263,473 votes.

(We cannot understand how they (ballots) have gotten wet. It is likely impossible that they have been wet two years ago. I think we need to examine how it happened. Since the ballots are wet, it only means that the ballot boxes have been opened.)

Aside from the wet ballots, Bongbong Marcos also complained that 38 ballot boxes have no audit logs. The only son of the late President Ferdinand Marcos emphasized that the audit logs are very important because they contain the record of the time the precinct opened, the time it was closed, and the time the votes were cast.



On the other hand, Robredo's election lawyer Romulo Macalintal admitted that the ballots have gotten wet even before they were transported to Manila for the recount. However, he insisted the ballots could have gotten wet in a storm in Camarines Sur, where VP Robredo has served as congresswoman for one term, from 2013 to 2016.

Contributed by Renato Pasayao