SC meets as PET today

The Supreme Court convenes today as the Presidential Electoral Tribunal (PET) to tackle the separate protests filed last Friday by defeated presidential candidate Fernando Poe Jr. and his running mate, former senator Loren Legarda.

SC spokesman Ismael Khan said yesterday the tribunal would first determine if the protests are "sufficient in form and substance." If the protests are not summarily dismissed, the tribunal will then require the respondents — President Arroyo and Vice President Noli de Castro — to comment.

Khan said the tribunal would schedule the hearings of the case and could constitute itself into divisions or committees to allocate and distribute its workload.

Scrutinizing election protests is tedious as the tribunal will have to wait for the revision teams it will create to finish its job and conduct hearings as well.

According to the rules, once the revision of ballots starts, the revision team shall continue without interruption until completed within 180 working days.

The tribunal may also delegate the task of receiving evidence to a hearing commissioner who shall be a lawyer.

At the hearings, the affidavits submitted by the parties shall constitute the direct testimonies of the witnesses. Those who will testify may be subjected to cross-examination.

Although the PET rules on the time frame by which the revisions and hearings should be conducted, Khan said the process could be delayed due to the parties themselves.

Ideally, Khan said the election protests should be resolved within a year.

Under the Constitution, the SC sitting en banc shall be the sole judge of all contests relating to the election, returns and qualifications of the President and Vice President and may promulgate its rules for the purpose.

Poe and Legarda asked for a recount of the balloting in the May elections as they claimed to have been cheated by their chief rivals, Mrs. Arroyo and De Castro, respectively.

Under the rules, only candidates who received the second or third highest number of votes may contest the election of the President or the Vice President. — Aurea Calica