PET defers voting on Marcos poll protest to October 15
MANILA, Philippines (Updated 01:26 p.m.) — The Supreme Court sitting as Presidential Electoral Tribunal has reset voting on the former Sen. Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr.’s poll protest against Vice President Leni Robredo.
The voting was reset to October 15, a source told Philstar.com.
Supreme Court Public Information Office spokesperson Brian Hosaka confirmed to reporters that "the PET did not take any action on the Vice Presidential Election Protest Case during the tribunal’s session today."
He said the case "remains pending and is still being deliberated by the members of the tribunal."
Last week, the SC also deferred action on Associate Justice Alfredo Benjamin Caguioa’s report on Marcos’ poll protest.
Caguioa is the member-in-charge of the case.
The justice submitted his report on the results of the recount in Marcos’ three pilot provinces—Iloilo, Negros Oriental and Camarines Sur—on September 9, but the SC has yet to vote on it.
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 24 other provinces and cities, covering 30,000 poll precincts.
Rule 65 of the PET rules provides: “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.”
Marcos filed the electoral protest in June 2016 to contest Robredo’s win where she lead a little over 260,000 votes in the vice presidential race.
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