Philippine vice presidential candidate Maria Leonor "Leni" Robredo, right, talks to reporters during a press conference in suburban Quezon city, north of Manila, Philippines on Tuesday, May 10, 2016. Robredo is slightly ahead against Sen. Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr., the son of the late strongman, during the unofficial count of votes for the vice president. (AP Photo/Aaron Favila)

MANILA, Philippines - The late Philippine dictator Ferdinand Marcos' son, who is running for vice-president, called Tuesday for a stop to an unofficial vote count that shows his rival has overtaken him.

Sen. Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr.'s campaign said it sent an urgent request to the Commission on Elections to halt a tally released by an accredited citizen's group, saying the results showed "an alarming and suspicious trend" contrary to independent exit polls and the campaign's estimates, according to his adviser, Rep. Jonathan dela Cruz.

If Marcos wins, that would put him a step away from the presidency 30 years after his father was ousted by a public uprising amid plunder allegations and widespread human rights abuses.

His rival, Congresswoman Leni Robredo, was ahead by 200,000 votes, putting her half a percentage point ahead of Marcos as of Tuesday afternoon, according to the unofficial count. Earlier counts had Marcos in the lead.

Official results won't be released for at least another two weeks. The Philippines elects the president and vice-president separately.

Robredo, a lawyer for the poor and the widow of a well-loved politician, has denied cheating.

She thanked her supporters at a news conference Tuesday but said the count was not yet over. She asked all to remain calm and respect whatever results come out of what she said were clean and orderly elections.

She promised full support for Mayor Rodrigo Duterte, who has cemented his lead in the Philippine presidential election, in case she wins.

The election commission has yet to formally receive Marcos' request and the insinuations of irregularities are based on a partial and unofficial count, according to James Jimenez, a commission spokesman.

Christian Monsod, one of the framers of the country's 1987 constitution and former elections commission head, welcomed Robredo's lead.

"We have a problem if Bongbong Marcos wins because there are still many cases against the Marcoses," he said, pointing out that the country has recovered only $3.7 billion of the estimated $10 billion the family allegedly stole from government coffers.

The Marcos family fled to Hawaii four days after massive street protests, where rosary-clutching nuns and ordinary citizens knelt before tanks and protesters stuck yellow flowers into the muzzles of assault rifles of pro-government troops. His father died in exile.

After his family's return to the country in 1991, Marcos Jr. became governor, congressman and in 2010 a senator.

President Benigno Aquino III, whose parents were democracy champions who helped topple the senior Marcos, also campaigned against Marcos Jr., who has never clearly apologized for abuses of his father.

"If he couldn't even see what was wrong in what their family did, how can we expect that he won't repeat these?" Aquino said during a ceremony in February commemorating the revolt's anniversary.

News from © The Associated Press, 2016