Filtered By: Topstories
News
PET POLL PROTEST

Robredo supporters reiterate plea to be allowed to chip in for counter protest fee


Supporters of Vice President Leni Robredo on Wednesday asked the Supreme Court (SC), sitting as the Presidential Electoral Tribunal (PET), to reconsider its decision junking their bid to contribute for the payment of the balance of her counter protest fee.

Robredo, whose victory in the May 2016 election has been challenged by former Senator Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr. on fraud allegations, has yet to pay the P7.4 million out of the P15.4 million required of her by the PET.

She had asked for more time to raise the amount which the tribunal recently granted.

In their motion for reconsideration, the proponents of Piso Para Kay Leni Movement led by Museo Pambata founder Cristina Lim-Yuson argued the PET Rules do not prohibit the payment of filing of fees directly by the voters.

The petitioners also said they have the legal standing in the election protest being taxpayers and registered voters and that the payment of the balance will "achieve a just and expeditious disposition of the case."

"In the case of Marcos, even his filing fees were supposedly paid by third parties who 'wish that the election protest be resolved with dispatch,'" the motion stated.

"Incidentally, the payment of other individuals for protestant Marcos was done without asking for leave of court; and it was accepted by this Honorable Tribunal without any question."

They said it "appears clearly" that the petition should be allowed "as it raises an issue of transcendental importance and there is no substantial or procedural thereto."

The group claimed that the PET junked their petition recently without explaining the basis for the denial.

The group said it has now collected about P7 million from 25,000 Filipinos since it started the initiative as part of their efforts to help Robredo weeks ago.

Aside from Lim-Yuson, the other key members of the group are former PAG-IBIG Fund Chief Executive Officer Zorayda Amelia Alonzo, former human rights commissioner Paulynn Sicam, award-winning singer Celeste Legaspi-Gallardo, Ateneo de Manila University Press director Karina Bolasco, and former social welfare secretary Corazon Soliman. — MDM, GMA News

LOADING CONTENT