MANILA, Philippines — Akbayan Citizen’s Action Party and various youth groups asked the Supreme Court, sitting as Presidential Electoral Tribunal, to junk the election protest of former Sen. Bongbong Marcos against Vice President Leni Robredo.
In a letter to the tribunal, the groups said that based on the rules of PET, “this case is already ripe for a decision.”
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“We believe there’s no more reason for the PET to keep this protest going,” the groups added.
The tribunal last week ordered the Commission on Elections and the Office of the Solicitor General to comment on pending issues related to the poll protest. In particular, on issues involving the annulment of elections in the provinces of Lanao del Sur, Basilan and Maguindanao on the ground of terrorism, intimidation, harassment of voters and pre-shading of ballots.
But the groups noted that PET rules state that substantial recovery must be made in the recount of the three pilot provinces — Iloilo, Camarines Sur and Negros Oriental — for Marcos’ protest to prosper.
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Marcos however failed, the groups said as they noted that the recount showed that Robredo’s lead widened by 15,093 votes.
PET said in the October 2019 resolution: “After the revision and appreciation, the lead of protestee Robredo increased from 263,473 to 278,566.”
“Each day that the final PET decision is delayed gives the Marcoses more opportunities to undermine the people’s voice in the 2016 elections,” they said.
“With this, we respectfully call on the PET to decide and dismiss the protest with finality and uphold the victory of [Robredo] in the 2016 elections. By doing so, the PET will allow the true voice of the Filipino people that was heard in 2016 to full resonate,” the groups added.
The youth groups are not parties to the pending petition. — Kristine Joy Patag