Bongbong Marcos' poll protest vs Leni Robredo

An organization of Martial Law victims welcomes the junking of former Sen. Ferdinand Marcos Jr.'s electoral protest against Vice President Leni Robredo, saying the rejection of claims of electoral fraud makes it "now clear that Marcos' baseless and malicious protest and accusations are mere tantrums of a brat who can't accept defeat." 

Danilo dela Fuente, spokesperson of Samahan ng Ex-Detainees Laban sa Detensyon at Aresto (SELDA), says Robredo's election as vice president in the 2016 polls "is a strong rejection of their desperate attempts to wash off their bloody record of human rights violations and corruption during Martial Law."

Dela Fuente stresses though, that Marcos' defeat at the polls does not mean an end to the campaign to hold the Marcoses accountable.

"Justice is yet to be served. Imelda Marcos, despite being found guilty by the Sandiganbayan of amassing wealth from plundering the nation's coffers, is still free, while many elderly and sickly political prisoners are languishing behind bars due to trumped up cases," he says.

The former first lady is appealing seven counts of graft that the Sandiganbayan convicted her of in 2018. Marcos was found guilty of creating private foundations in Switzerland from 1978 to 1984 that allowed her family to funnel illegally amassed government funds during the Martial Law period. 

The Supreme Court, sitting as the Presidential Electoral Tribunal, has unanimously dismissed the election protested of former Sen. Bongbong Marcos against Vice President Leni Robredo, according to a source. — report from News5

JUST IN | The Supreme Court, sitting as the Presidential Electoral Tribunal, has unanimously dismissed the electoral protest that former senator Bongbong Marcos filed against Vice Pres. Leni Robredo. (via News5/@dqdevera) pic.twitter.com/mPYssR92BG

— ONE News PH (@onenewsph) February 16, 2021

Lawyers of Vice President Leni Robredo ask the Supreme Court, sitting as the Presidential Electoral Tribunal, to investigate for possible collusion between Solicitor General Jose Calida, 19 assistant solicitors general and defeated vice presidential bet Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr. in "besmirching the reputation" of Associate Justice Marvic Leonen.

"Indeed, how does siding with one man serve the welfare of the people; and, why would he take up the position of the defeated candidate whose interest is to call into question and effectively disenfranchise the vote of the people of the Philippines?" Robredo's lawyers ask the Office of the Solicitor General (OSG).

Noting "eerily similar" motions for inhibition of Leonen, Robredo's legal team accuses the OSG of lawyering for Marcos.

The Liberal Party, of which Vice President Leni Robredo is chair, says it hopes the Supreme Court will finally decide on former Sen. Ferdinand Marcos' election protest against her.

"VP Robredo defeated Marcos by 263,473 votes in the 2016 vice presidential elections. This lead further grew to 278,566 votes with an additional 15,093 votes from a recount that Mr. Marcos himself pushed for. Malinaw na panalo si VP Leni noong 2016. Malinaw na siya rin ang nagwagi sa recount. Wala nang dapat hintayin pa ang Korte Suprema. Wala nang dahilan para pahabain pa ang kasong ito," the minority party says.

The Supreme Court, sitting as the Presidential Electoral Tribunal, orders the Commission on Elections and the Office of the Solicitor General to comment within 20 days on pending issues in the electoral protest of former Sen. Bongbong Marcos against Vice President Leni Robredo.

The Comelec was also directed to report to the tribunal on the following:

• if petitions for failure of elections were filed in the provinces of Lanao del Sur, Basilan and Maguindanao
• the corresponding resolutions to the said petitions (if granted or denied)
• whether special eections were held in areas declared to have had a failure of elctions in the said provinces
• the results of the special elections

The Supreme Court en banc will require parties in the poll protest to comment on the "preliminary appreciation report" on the revision/recount in three pilot provinces and on Marcos' motion to nullify election results in three provinces in the Bangamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, a source says.

Supporters of Vice President Leni Robredo have been holding a vigil outside the Supreme Court since yesterday with the appeal to the magistrates to dismiss defeated candidate Bongbong Marcos’ election protest.

Meanwhile, a short distance away are Marcos supporters who are also camped along Padre Faura St. outside the SC.

Supporters of VP Leni Robredo has been holding a vigil outside the Supreme Court since yesterday with the appeal to the magistrates to dismiss ex Sen. BongBong Marcos’ election protest.?@PhilippineStar? pic.twitter.com/4MOVdDlUzI

— evelynzmacairan (@EZMacairan) October 15, 2019

A short distance from the supporters of VP Robredo are supporters of ex Sen. Marcos also camped along Padre Faura St. outside the Supreme Court.?@PhilippineStar? pic.twitter.com/EzYqoGrj81

— evelynzmacairan (@EZMacairan) October 15, 2019

Spokesperson Brian Hosaka confirms that the Supreme Court has no vote yet on former Sen. Bongbong Marcos' poll protest against Leni Robredo. 

“The PET did not take any action on the Vice Presidential Election Protest Case during the tribunal’s session today, the said case remains pending and is still being deliberated by the members of the tribunal,” he says. 

A source says the Supreme Court has deferred the ruling on former Sen. Bongbong Marcos' poll protest against Vice President Leni Robredo. Voting was reset to October 15. 

JUST IN: SC defers ruling on Marcos poll protest vs VP Robredo. Voting reset to October 15. — source @PhilstarNews

— Kristine Patag (@kristinepatag) October 8, 2019

The camp of Vice President Leni Robredo clarifies that she will remain as vice president whatever the decision of the PET will be as the order will only rule on whether or not the poll protest of defeated candidate Bongbong Marcos will continue.

"This is so because the only issue that will be the subject of said decision, which was reported to be issued on October 8, will only resolve whether or not the election protest of Marcos will continue after the PET has recounted the ballots from the three pilot provinces (Camarines Sur, Iloilo, and Negros Oriental) that he chose," Romulo Macalintal, lead counsel of Robredo, says in a statement.

Chief Justice Lucas Bersamin tells reporters he is still reading Associate Justice Alfredo Benjamin Caguioa's report on former Sen. Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos' poll protest against Vice President Leni Robredo.

He disputes report the Presidential Electoral Tribunal has already decided 8-6 to continue with the electoral protest.

Vice President Leni Robredo says she is hopeful that the decision of the Supreme Court—sitting as the Presidential Electoral Tribunal—will be favorable, saying also that the poll protest is bigger than her and rival Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr.

"Matagal na din naming ninais na matapos na ito, kasi gaya ng sinabi ko in the past, hanggang kasi nandiyan pa siya, nagkakaroon lang ng platform para mag-propaganda, na kadalasan fake news iyong mga lumalabas. So sana matapos na."

(We have been hoping for closure on this case, like I have said in the past, because as long as the case is there, there is a platform for propaganda and fake news to come out. So, I hope the case is already decided.)

She says the poll protest is "a test of the entire electoral process, of the justcie system."

Supreme Court spokesman Brian Hosaka says the Presidential Electoral Tribunal has already concluded the recount of ballots in the electoral protest of former senator Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. against Vice President Leni Robredo

The tribunal, however, has not yet acted on it. 

"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.," Vice President Leni Robredo's camp says in response to the PET's decision.

"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, VP Leni has gained additional votes from the recount," it also says.

They say they asked for an immediate resolution to the case to keep Marcos' camp from allegedly "spreading misinformation and propaganda to deceive the public about the genuine results of the 2016 elections, which thèy have been doing from the beginning of this process."

The Presidential Electoral Tribunal denies the plea of Vice President Leni Robredo for immediate resolution and dismissal of election protest by defeated vice presidential candidate and former senator BongBong Marcos for being premature, The STAR's Edu Punay reports.

The tribunal says it has "yet to complete the proceedings which entail judicial recount, revision and appreciation of the votes cast in pilot provinces" and "is still in the process of appreciation."

Figures on results of revision, recount and appreciation submitted by Robredo, moreover, are "speculative" as of the moment, the tribunal adds.

Sen. Francis Pangilinan welcomes the Presidential Electoral Tribunal's ruling on the ballot shading threshold in former Sen. Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos' electoral protest against Vice President Leni Robredo, saying it will help disprove speculations and "fake news" of cheating.

"Now that the threshold issue has been resolved, I am confident that this baseless protest will be resolved quickly and will affirm the mandate that the people have given VP Leni," he says.

Pangilinan is president of the Liberal Party and Robredo is chairperson.

The tribunal initially imposed a threshold of 50-percent for shaded ovals to be considered valid, but Robredo contested this and said that the Commission on Elections used 25-percent shading as its threshold in determining vote validity in the 2016 national elections.

The PET, on September 18, partially granted Robredo's appeal to use the 25-percent threshold that was also used by the poll body.

The tribunal held:

“After assiduously going through the parties’ comments and arguments, the Court herein resolves to partially grant the Subject Motion (Robredo’s plea) insofar as setting aside the use of fifty percent (50%) threshold in the revision proceedings is concerned.”

It also said: “A range of twenty-percent to twenty-five percent shading threshold was adopted for the 2016 elections.”

FULL TEXT: PET ruling on threshold issue in VP poll recount

The Presidential Electoral Tribunal has junked former Sen. Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr.’s plea for Associate Justice Alfredo Benjamin Caguioa to inhibit from his electoral protest due to "utter lack of merit."

The court says Marcos' supposed proof of bias "may be good reading as a conspiracy theory and may even fodder for discourse in social media, but his theories, when used for ground for an inhibition of a Member of this Tribunal must transcend fiction."

The Supreme Court, through its Public Information Office, says that "no change in management of PET Case No. 0005 as the request was denied unanimously."

READ: Statement on news items referring to an internal and privileged document circulated in PET Case No. 0005. pic.twitter.com/k7KCTZ2hAT

— Supreme Court PIO (@SCPh_PIO) August 20, 2018

The Supreme Court PIO also reminds members of the media not to report on internal and privileged information on matters pending before the court.

"In the past, the court has dealt severely with individuals and court personnel who have leaked privileged and confdential matters as well as pending matters," it says.

Former Sen. Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr. seeks the inhibition of Associate Justice Alfredo Benjamin Caguioa from his electoral protest against Vice President Leni Robredo.

The STAR reports that Marcos wants Caguioa, the ponente of the case, to recuse himself from the protest.

JUST IN: Ex-Sen. Bongbong Marcos seeks inhibition of Justice Caguioa (ponente) in his electoral protest vs VP Leni Robredo before PET. | @edupunay pic.twitter.com/qlsJUR514d

— The Philippine Star (@PhilippineStar) August 6, 2018

Marcos, in January, accused the SC justice of having an "obvious bias" against him.

The Commission on Elections, in its comment to the President Electoral Tribunal, backs Vice President Leni Robredo’s argument that a threshold of 25 percent was used during the determination of vote validity in the 2016 national and local elections.

The threshold determines how much percent the ballot ovals must be shaded for the vote to be valid.

Two opposition stalwarts urge President Duterte to keep his hands off the poll protest filed by Bongbong Marcos against Vice President Leni Robredo as it may influence the result of the manual recount.

“Duterte should not interfere into the affairs of the Presidential Electoral Tribunal (PET) regarding Marcos’s election protest as this could cause undue pressure on the PET,” former Rep. Barry Gutierrez (Akbayan) says.

Erin Tañada, Liberal Party's vice president for external affairs, also warns that Robredo can suffer the same fate as that of Maria Lourdes Sereno, who was ousted as chief justice after Duterte expressed his intention to remove her from her post.

Vice President Leni Robredo says former Sen. Bongbong Marcos is lying after the latter claimed that the Commission on Elections did not state that it imposed a 25-percent shading threshold rule during the 2016 elections.

READ: Marcos asks PET to junk Robredo appeal vs 50% vote threshold

“Nagsisinungaling siya kasi iyong records will show,” Robredo says in a statement.

“Iyong records will show—at ito, iyong Comelec mismo nagsasabi, iyong mga experts na Comelec lawyers ang nagsasabi, ano ba iyong threshold na pinagbabasehan? Ang sinasabi niya, 2010, 2013, 2016 [elections] ang threshold daw 50 percent. Hindi iyon totoo,” she says.

The Supreme Court, sitting as Presidential Electoral Tribunal, orders the camps of Vice President Leni Robredo and former Sen. Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr. to explain why they should not be cited in contempt for violating the tribunal’s order to observe the sub judice rule.

Under jurisprudence, sub judice "restricts comments and disclosures pertaining to pending judicial proceedings."
 

The Supreme Court as the Presidential Electoral Tribunal warns the camps of Vice President Leni Robredo and former Senator Bongbong Marcos to refrain from discussing the proceedings of the poll protest outside the venue of the court.

The tribunal is handling the electoral protest filed by Marcos, who claimed that there was manipulation in the results of the May 2016 election which declared Robredo the winner in the vice presidential race. — Report by Kristine Joy Patag; Photo by AP

Romulo Macalintal, the lawyer of Vice President Leni Robredo, challenges defeated candidate Bongbong Marcos to sign a memorandum to prove his claims of electoral fraud against Robredo.

VP Leni's lawyer .@atty_mac challenges Marcos to sign MOA to prove his claims of fraud thru VCMs. @PhilippineStar pic.twitter.com/X1EUeiH6bW

— sheila crisostomo (@shecrisostomo) January 31, 2017