Robredo camp disappointed over PET denial of immediate resolution of Marcos poll protest

The camp of Vice President Leni Robredo has expressed disappointment over the decision of the Supreme Court—sitting as Presidential Electoral Tribunal (PET)—denying Robredo’s motion for immediate resolution of the poll protest filed by former Sen. Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr.

In a statement released by lawyer Bernadette Sardillo, Robredo’s legal counsel, the Vice President’s camp, however, said they remain confident that the high court will uphold Robredo’s 2016 victory.

“We are extremely disappointed, but we fully respect the Presidential Electoral Tribunal’s decision to deny our motion for immediate resolution in connection with the election protest of losing candidate Ferdinand Marcos Jr.,” Sardillo said.

Sardillo argued that the Robredo camp only pushed for the immediate resolution of the case in June this year to prevent Marcos’ camp from spreading misinformation aimed at deceiving the public about the genuine results of the 2016 elections “which they have been doing from the beginning of this process.”

Robredo beat Marcos in the 2016 vice presidential race by 263,473 votes.

“We anchored our motion on the fact that Marcos’ camp hasn’t proven anything in its electoral protest against Vice President Leni Robredo. In fact, Vice President Leni has gained additional votes from the recount,” Sardillo said.

Sardillo was alluding to the announcement of the PET on January 22 this year that PET has suspended the recount of votes from three pilot provinces chosen by Marcos, Camarines Sur, Negros Oriental and Iloilo, to prepare for another step in the manual counting of the votes.

Premature

In a July 2 resolution, the PET found “premature” the motion filed by Robredo's lawyers which claimed that her victory in the 2016 vice presidential race had been confirmed by the manual recount of votes from Camarines Sur, Iloilo and Negros Oriental.

The PET said it has yet to complete the proceedings involved in the election protest, which it said includes judicial recount, revision, and appreciation of the votes cast in Marcos' chosen pilot provinces.

Marcos’ camp had welcomed the PET decision, saying they were “very pleased” with it .

“The PET has finally put an end to Robredo’s fallacious claim of victory despite the fact that the entire process had not yet concluded. She should stop misleading the public with her impetuous pronouncements,” Marcos’ spokesperson Vic Rodriguez said in a statement. — RSJ, GMA News