Once more, SC defers taking action on Marcos protest vs Robredo

October 8, 2019

For the second straight time, the Supreme Court, acting as the Presidential Electoral Tribunal, on Tuesday deferred deciding on the 2016 election protest filed by former Senator Ferdinand Marcos, Jr. against Vice President Leni Robredo.

"The PET did not take any action on the vice presidential election protest case during the tribunal's session today," said SC Public Information Office chief Brian Keith Hosaka.

"The said case remains pending and is still being deliberated by members of the tribunal," he added.

PET reset deliberations of the poll protest to October 15.

To be tackled was the report of Associate Justice Alfredo Benjamin Caguioa, who is in charge of the case, on recount of ballots from Marcos' chosen pilot provinces of Camarines Sur, Iloilo, and Negros Oriental.

Caguioa submitted the report last September 9.

Marcos has been contesting Robredo's victory in the last vice presidential elections for three years. Robredo defeated him in 2016 by a margin of 263,473 votes but Marcos alleged it was due to electoral fraud.

The results of the manual recount in Camarines Sur, Iloilo, and Negros Oriental will determine if Marcos' protest will go to the next stage. 

In the poll protest, Marcos sought annulment of Robredo's proclamation as vice president, hold manual recount of ballots, and nullify election results for the vice president’s post in Maguindanao, Lanao del Sur, and Basilan.

Chief Justice Lucas Bersamin had said the tribunal has to be "very careful" in deciding the case "because the credibility of our processes as well as of the political system here is at stake."

Bersamin and Senior Associate Justice Antonio Carpio will retire on October 18 and on October 26, respectively.

Bersamin admitted the PET’s decision on the electoral protest filed by Marcos against Robredo may not happen before his retirement on October 18 as there are many issues yet to be resolved. 

“Every week, the case of Mr. Marcos is always in the agenda but there is no truth to reports that we voted 8-6 in favor of him. We have not voted at all because there are still many issues on the case that have to be dealt with,” Bersamin said in  previous interview.

“I have to be open-minded about this. There are many other issues, substantial issues and the revision is only one aspect of the case,” he said. 

“So, I doubt it (voting and decision). I will be retiring on October 18 and we will go on a break after that,” he added.

Bersamin said whatever the decision, Robredo will remain as vice president since the tribunal will only rule on the initial recount in the three pilot provinces. DMS