Leni camp: Bongbong plea for hearing officers in protest ‘premature’

MANILA, Philippines — Vice President Leni Robredo’s election lawyer, Romulo Macalintal, on Wednesday hit former Sen. Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos for filing a motion to appoint three hearing officers for his poll protest.

Macalintal considered Marcos’ move premature and impractical.

“This is very premature. We have not yet even held our preliminary conference where the issues to be resolved by the Presidential Electoral Tribunal (PET) will be defined,” Macalintal said in a released statement.

“And now, Marcos is again preempting the action of the PET on this matter,” the poll lawyer added.

According to Macalintal, without the preliminary conference, Marcos’ motion to have three hearing officers is practically intended to “condition the minds of the people.” He said this is because they are not sure yet whether the three causes of action raised by the defeated vice presidential candidate would be sustained by PET.

He also said that Marcos seems to dictate upon the members of the PET.

The preliminary conference for Marcos’s electoral protest against Robredo is slated on June 21 after the Supreme Court, sitting as PET granted his request to set it for pre-trial.

“Furthermore, it would be impractical to have three hearing officers to hear the three causes of action,” Macalintal said.

The poll lawyer explained that there is only one lead lawyer for the protestant and the protestee. He said the lead legal counsel is required to be present in every stage of the hearing but he noted that the lawyer cannot manage to be in three places simultaneously.

“And these issues are all interconnected. It is improper for three hearing officers to resolve the said issues separately,” Macalintal said.

Marcos filed a seven-page urgent motion before the SC on Wednesday. He sought for the speedy resolution of his poll protest and asked the PET to designate three hearing commissioners to expedite the proceedings in the upcoming preliminary conference.

The protester said the three commissioners “will better facilitate an orderly, simplified and expeditious disposition of this electoral contest considering that there are three causes of action raised in this election protest.”

Marcos earlier cast doubt on Robredo’s vice presidency and filed a protest questioning the integrity and reliability of the Vote Counting Machines, Consolidating Canvass System units, secure digital cards and other storage devices used for the 92,509 clustered precincts during the May 9, 2016 local and national elections.

Marcos’s camp also accused Robredo of intentionally delaying the election protest.