Rumors are circulating that former Senator and vice presidential bet Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Junior won his recount bid against incumbent Vice President Leni Robredo.

This arose shortly after Justice Alfredo Caguioa Jr. came out of his report last September 9. His submission just means that the 14 member Presidential Electoral Tribunal (PET) would now convene itself and ascertain the pieces of evidence gathered by the tribunal.

The case was filed by Bongbong Marcos shortly after the 2016 vice presidential race claiming among others, that cheating in favour of Robredo happened in several provinces which ex-Senator Marcos explicitly choose. These are the pilot provinces of Iloilo, Negros Occidental and Camarines Sur which covers 5,415 election precincts in Iloilo, Negros Occidental, and Camarines Sur.

What the Caguiao report just means that the Tribunal had already finished the recount and the basis of the decision of the Tribunal would rest on the evidence gathered from these three provinces.

A source told me that the Marcos camp wants is for the PET to continue recount of another 24 provinces, among them the ballot boxes in Basilan, Lanao, and Maguindanao. Legally, the PET cannot simply do that without resolving the findings of the tribunal on the three provinces.

Chief Justice Lucas Berjamin in an interview remarked that the PET is treading the issue very carefully because it involves one of the highest positions in the land.

Without categorically stating it, Robredo lawyer semi-retired Atty. Romulo Macalintal says that several persons are forcing or coercing some members of the tribunal to release an adverse report on Robredo. This has been consistently denied by the other camp.

So, if the Bongbong camp is winning, then, why these news items cropping online?