MANILA, Philippines — Chief Justice Lucas Bersamin denied that the Supreme Court has voted on the poll protest of former Sen. Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. against Vice President Leni Robredo.
“There is no definite voting yet or anything that happened in that particular case [Marcos poll protest],” Bersamin told reporters at the sidelines of the National Summit on the Dangerous Drugs Law on Thursday.
The chief justice was asked to comment on an opinion piece on The STAR that said that the SC, sitting as Presidential Electoral Tribunal, voted 8-6 in favor of Marcos.
The piece quoted anonymous sources from the SC.
The report claimed: “Our information is that ‘it’s 8-6 in favor of Marcos’ – that is, with the PET putting aside its Rule 65 for an ‘initial determination’ test in three pilot provinces and allowing a continuation of the recount in the remaining 22 provinces and five highly urbanized cities protested by him.”
Rule 65 holds that: “If upon examination of such ballots and proof, and after making reasonable allowances, the Tribunal is convinced that, taking all circumstances into account, the protestant or counter-protestant will most probably fail to make out his case, the protest may forthwith be dismissed, without further consideration of the other provinces mentioned in the protest.”
The chief justice explained that after the member-in-charge of a particular case submits a report, the other justices would study it and “that takes time.”
“There may be already deliberation, you know there are several parts of that case and the rumor that there is already a report, whether that is true or not will not necessarily mean we will terminate the deliberations,” he explained.
The SC has earlier confirmed that Associate Justice Alfredo Benjamin Caguioa, member-in-charge on the petition, submitted a report on the petition.
Bersamin said that he was only halfway through Caguioa’s report.
The high court is not yet due to meet for another full court session until October 8.
RELATED: Bersamin: No 'foot-dragging' in Marcos poll protest vs Robredo
Marcos’ poll protest
Marcos’ second cause of action covers the recount of ballots from Camarines Sur, Negros Oriental and Iloilo— the three provinces he earlier identified.
The recount result will determine whether Marcos’ protest will be dismissed or not. If there is a big discrepancy between the official tally and figures from the revision, the PET would expand the coverage of the recount to 27 other provinces, coveirng 30,000 poll precincts.
RELATED: SC defers action on Marcos poll protest
The opinion piece claimed that a majority of the tribunal “may decide to disregard its Rule 65.” — with reports from The STAR/Evelyn Macairan