MANILA, Philippines – The net worth of Vice President Leni Robredo decreased because of expenses related to the election protest filed by former Senator Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos, her legal counsel said on Thursday, May 18.
“Vice President Leni Robredo’s net worth decreased due mostly to expenses in relation to the election protest filed by Bongbong Marcos, such as filing fee, as well as family and personal expenses,” lawyer Barry Gutierrez said in a statement.
Based on her Statement of Assets Liabilities and Net worth (SALN) by end of 2016, Robredo declared a net worth of P8.878 million. In June 2016, her net worth was P11.053 million. In 2015, it was P8.712 million.
Marcos filed an election protest against Robredo last year. Robredo filed a counter-protest against her vice presidential rival that would require the recount of votes in several precincts.
Last May 2, Robredo paid the P8-million initial cash deposit required by the Supreme Court to cover the cost of the vote recount for her electoral protest.
She was required by the high court sitting as Presidential Electoral Tribunal to shell out a total of P15.7 million to retrieve poll materials for election protest against Marcos, covering the recount of election returns from 31,278 precincts.
Marcos, meanwhile, was ordered to pay a total of P66.2 million for the recount of votes in 132,446 precincts. He paid the first installment worth P36 million, with a portion of the amount donated to him by his friends and supporters.
Gutierrez earlier said the P8 million came from Robredo’s personal savings and loans from the relatives of her late husband, Interior and Local Government Secretary Jesse Robredo, namely Vicente Hao Chin, pablito Chua and Rafael Bundoc.