MANILA, Philippines — The camp of Vice President Leni Robredo has complied with the Presidential Electoral Tribunal’s order to pay P50,000 for violating the sub judice rule that prohibits public parties from discussing an ongoing case.
But the camp of the vice president also reiterated that they have never violated the sub judice rule in the ongoing electoral protest filed by former Sen. Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. against her.
Through Romulo Macalintal, Robredo’s lead counsel, they filed a Manifestation with Urgent Motion for Clarification. Macalintal pointed out that the PET, in its June 16 resolution, took “particular note of the statements to the media regarding the condition of ballot boxes undergoing revision (e.g. recently wet ballots, missing audit logs).”
He further quoted the PET as saying that the pronouncements “were circulated to insinuate fraud and anomalies attended the 2016 National and Local Elections, which could inevitably lead to the prejudgment of the Tribunal’s disposition of the case.”
These, the veteran elections lawyer said, were statements from the Marcos camp.
“Its resolution did not point to any specific statement made by protestee Robredo and her counsels which could be considered as a violation of the sub judice rule,” the motion read.
Robredo told reporters on Thursday that her camp respects the order of the court. But she added that “when Marcos spreads lies, we need to answer them.”
“We cannot let them be just because there is an order because he himself does not follow it,” she said.
Her camp has insisted that they never gave sensitive or confidential information on the ongoing electoral protest.
Marcos paid the fine last July 11, but the receipt was made public only on Wednesday.
The PET penalized both camps on June 26.