"Our objective is not just to give Vice President Leni our money, but also to protect our votes," Bernabe said in a press conference at the Museo Pambata in Manila.
A petition was filed last week by the lady lawyer and along her are the former awardees of the The Outstanding Women in the Nation’s Service (TOWNS)at the Supreme Court (SC) that is sitting as Presidential Electoral Tribunal (PET)
The supporters who filed the petition were Museo Pambata founder Nina Lim-Yuson, former Commission on Human Rights commissioner Paulynn Paredes-Sicam, singer Celeste Legaspi-Gallardo, former Bases Conversion and Development Authority board director Zorayda Alonzo, former social welfare secretary Dinky Soliman and Ateneo de Manila University press director Karina Bolasco.
"Included in the right to suffrage is to have the right that the outcome of the elections is protected and we are petitioning the SC to give us this right," said Bernabe in a news briefing on Tuesday, July 4.
"Our interest here is not just to give Leni, the VP, our help, but the theory of our case is we want to protect our votes," she added.
"The petitioners exercised their right of suffrage in the 2016 national and local elections. This exercise of sovereign authority deserves affirmation, even protection, if not from the state, then by the voters themselves. This includes protection of the outcome of the election," the petition, which was filed on June 27, stated.
So far their campaign has raised P408,878.50 which will be directly paid to PET. Their group decided to help the Robredo instead of just question Marcos' capacity to pay his deposit, said Sicam.
"How do you fight a billionaire?" Sicam asked. "One peso at a time."
She said they are getting pledges from P1 to as much as P10,000.
"There are many people willing to help but they don't want to be named because they are in a difficult position now. If you speak out on Facebook, trolls will attack you. They'd rather be invisible," Sicam said in Filipino.
Due on July 14, Robredo needs P7 million to pay for the second portion of her payment which the PET requires for her counter-protest. The Supreme Court have ordered Robredo and Marcos to pay a total of P81.46 million for their separate election protests.
From this huge amount, P66.02 million will go to the retrieval of poll materials for Marcos protest's while the P15.44 million will be used for the retrieval of election materials for the petition of Robredo.
Bolasco said if the high court dismiss their appeal, they'll donate the money to Robredo’s Angat Buhay program.
"There’s a chance that the high tribunal will not accept this petition. This is a test case. If that happens, the money will go to her projects under the Angat Buhay program," she said.
Source: Philstar, Rappler
0 comments: