The Supreme Court has set the date for the recount and revision of ballots in the election protest filed by former senator Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. against Vice President Maria Leonor “Leni” Robredo.

The court, sitting as the Presidential Electoral Tribunal (PET), set the first day of recount on March 19, 2018.

This was recommended by Associate Justice Benjamin Caguioa, the ponente or the magistrate tasked to study the case. The date however was a month later than the earlier projection of a recount in February.

Marcos went to the high court on Thursday to ask the justices to hasten his poll protest.

The Marcos and Robredo camps squabbled over Marcos’ earlier challenge for both to sign a joint manifestation to withdraw all pending motions, to prevent any delay in the recount.

The Robredo camp proposed instead a joint motion, arguing that a joint manifestation did not have a binding effect.

Lawyer Vic Rodriguez, spokesman of Marcos, pointed out that the joint motion only bore the name of Robredo’s counsel, Romulo Macalintal.

“Without Mrs. Robredo’s signature, the motion is a mere scrap of paper and may be later disowned by her as having been signed without her authority,” Rodriguez said.

He also assailed the joint motion prepared by Macalintal, saying it only covered pending motions and not future motions that could delay the proceedings.

Marcos’ joint manifestation was more sincere because it covered both present and future motions in the election protest, he said.

Rodriguez also took exception to the assertion made by Macalintal in his joint motion that Marcos had a pending partial motion for reconsideration dated December 4, 2017, asking the PET to reconsider its earlier ruling allowing the Marcos camp to secure soft copies of the ballot images.

He clarified that the partial motion for reconsideration was resolved by the tribunal in its resolution dated January 10, 2018.

“It appears that Attorney Macalintal wants to pull a fast one on the public with his publicity stunt. As far as we are concerned, the joint motion he signed has no binding effect because it was not signed by his client. For all Macalintal’s protestations, our joint manifestation is ready for him and Mrs. Robredo to sign. We are still waiting,” Rodriguez said.

Macalintal said the Robredo camp on Wednesday filed a motion to withdraw all pending motions that could delay recount proceedings before the PET.

“If there is any pending motion of the protestee (Robredo) which may delay the recount proceedings the same should be considered as withdrawn or abandoned,” Macalintal said.

Robredo beat Marcos by 263,473 votes in the 2016 vice presidential race.

JOMAR CANLAS AND LLANESCA T. PANTI