MANILA - Defeated vice-presidential candidate Bongbong Marcos has asked the Presidential Electoral Tribunal to set a preliminary conference on his poll protest against Vice President Leni Robredo.

In a motion, Marcos said the last pleading on the protest has been filed and served as early as September 9, 2016.

Marcos camp asks Presidential Electoral Tribunal to set preliminary conference on poll protest vs VP Robredo | @JohnsonDZMM pic.twitter.com/wCpWOdKH8x

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The 2010 Rules of the Presidential Electoral Tribunal states that after the filing of the last pleading, the tribunal shall order a preliminary conference to consider:

- the possibility of obtaining stipulations or admissions of facts and documents to avoid unnecessary proof;

- the simplification of issues;

- the limitation of number of witnesses;

- the most expeditious manner for the retrieval of ballot boxes containing the ballots, election returns, certificates of canvass and other election documents involved in the election protest; and

- such other matters as may aid in the prompt disposition of the election protest or petition for quo warranto.

Marcos lost to Robredo by a slim margin of over 200,000 votes.

Last January 16, the Commission on Elections found data in some supposedly unused vote counting machines used in the last elections which Marcos' spokesperson Atty. Vic Rodriguez said strengthens their position that there was cheating in the May 9, 2016 elections.

Marcos in late June filed an election protest on claims of "massive and blatant" fraud which he says paved the way for Robredo's win.

Robredo has maintained there had been no cheating.

-- with reports from Johnson Manabat, DZMM