Bongbong poll protest vs Leni starts rolling

MANILA, Philippines - The process of determining the merits in the election protest of former senator Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. against Vice President Leni Robredo before the Supreme Court (SC) has started rolling.

The SC, sitting as the Presidential Electoral Tribunal (PET), granted the petition of Marcos to issue guidelines for the revision of ballots in selected precincts during a preliminary conference on July 11.

In a five-page resolution promulgated on Aug. 8, the PET created the revision committees and retrieval team.

Each committee will be composed of a lawyer, who serves as a coordinator, a recorder and one representative from the camps of Marcos and Robredo.

The high tribunal ordered its chief administrative office to hire coordinators outside the SC.

The PET also set a compensation of P1,500 per clustered precinct for each revision committee.

The coordinator will receive a compensation of P780 while the recorder will get P480. The remaining P184 will be allotted for their supplies and materials.

The retrieval team is tasked to locate and examine all ballot boxes in the contested provinces and cities to facilitate their transport to the SC.

The PET has designated the following SC employees: lawyers Mercedes Mostajo and Linuel Alindogan of the office of the chief attorney as leaders; Joy Jemima Reyes and Jeffrey Raymond Atienza of the cash collection and disbursement division as special disbursing officers, and Joery Gayanan as chief security officer. They will receive P5,000 each monthly.

The high court also fixed the compensation of the members of the panel of commissioners. They are retired Justice Jose Vitug as chairperson, who will receive P50,000 a month, and lawyers Angelito Imperio and Irene Ragodon-Guevarra, who will receive P45,000 each monthly.

Leni supporters appeal ruling

Supporters of Robredo yesterday appealed the PET ruling that junked their intervention in the case and contribution for the remaining P7.4-million balance of the Vice President in her counter-protest against Marcos. 

In a 13-page motion for reconsideration, the Piso Para Kay Leni movement, led by Museo Pambata head Cristina Lim-Yuson, asked the SC to allow them to pay the rest of Robredo’s counter-protest fee.

Lim-Yuson was joined by former social welfare secretary Corazon Soliman, former human rights commissioner Paulynn Sicam, former Bases Conversion and Development Authority board director Zorayda Amelia Alonzo, singer Celeste Legaspi-Gallardo and Ateneo de Manila University press director Karina Bolasco.

Purification Bartolome-Bernabe, lawyer for the petitioners, argued that the PET denied them of their right to protect their votes for Robredo.

The group has collected P6.85 million in donations for Robredo. Last month, Robredo was given more time to raise half of the P15.43-million cash bond required for her counter-election protest.

The PET granted their plea for extension of the deadline for payment of the P7.43-million balance during a preliminary conference last week. – With Perseus Echeminada