MANILA, Philippines (Updated 5:35 p.m.) — The camp of losing candidate Bongbong Marcos falsely claimed Tuesday that their poll protest against Vice President Leni Robredo is still on despite the Supreme Court junking it.
The high court, sitting as the Presidential Electoral Tribunal, unanimously trashed Marcos’ bid to overturn the results of the 2016 vice presidential election, where Robredo took a narrow lead over the former senator.
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But Marcos’ lawyer Vic Rodriguez claimed that the tribunal only rejected their second cause of action which covered the recount in Negros Oriental, Iloilo and Camarines Sur, and not their third cause of action on the voiding of votes in Lanao del Sur, Basilan and Maguindanao.
A source told Philstar.com, however, that the tribunal has unanimously dismissed the electoral protest on Tuesday — a fact which was confirmed by the SC's public information office.
"The 15 members of the Presidential Electoral Tribunal unanimously dismissed the entire electoral protest ... for lack of merit," the SC PIO said.
SC spokesperson Brian Hosaka added that out of the 15 members of the tribunal, seven members concurred in full with the dismissal, while eight only concurred in the result.
He did not give any further details on the voting, including the identity of the justices who voted with the full concurrence of the main decision. He said the copy of the resolution will be uploaded to the SC website once it is available.
He also declined to comment on whether a decision may be appealed.
Should an appeal be filed, a reversal of the ruling, however, may be difficult as the tribunal was unanimous in its decision. — Xave Gregorio with a report from Kristine Joy Patag