MANILA, Philippines — Vice President Leni Robredo filed a motion for reconsideration before the Supreme Court (SC), sitting as the Presidential Electoral Tribunal (PET), on its ruling allowing the election protest filed by former Sen. Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr. to proceed.
READ: PET affirms jurisdiction over Marcos poll protest
Robredo's lead lawyer, Romulo Macalintal, pointed out that Marcos did not specifically point to poll irregularities in various provinces—consisting of 662 municipalities and their component cities and the 2,537 clustered from five highly urbanized cities. The PET ruled that Marcos’ protest contained narrations of “ultimate facts” regarding the alleged irregularities.
Macalintal, however, said affidavits submitted by Marcos pertain only to 57 municipalities and component cities.
“Kung mayroon mang masasabi na sapat na alegasyon sa kanyang protesta, hindi ito lalagpas sa 57 na lugar,” he said. "Ngunit ang gusto ni Mr. Marcos na idamay lahat.”
Last February, the tribunal denied Robredo's counter-protest to the electoral protest of Marcos, who accused her of cheating in the 2016 elections. The PET said the protest was "sufficient in form and substance."
However, the Jan. 24, 2017 ruling added that while the protest was found sufficient in form and substance, "it must be emphasized that, as to the veracity of the protestant's allegations, nothing yet has been proved."
Not a setback
Macalintal said that the PET identifying Marcos' protest as sufficient in form and substance was “simply as a matter of course and purely procedural.”
He said it is not a setback for the vice president who is “fully prepared to fight the legal battle to defend the real mandate of the Filipino people.” — Kristian Javier