VICE President Maria Leonor G. Robredo failed to stop the Supreme Court (SC), sitting as the Presidential Electoral Tribunal (PET), from hearing and resolving the election protest of former Sen. Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr.
In an eight-page resolution dated January 30, but released only on Thursday, the PET found sufficient in form and substance Marcos’s election protest and denied Robredo’s motion to dismiss the case on the ground of lack of jurisdiction.
“Verily, the Tribunal affirms its jurisdiction over the instant protest, which is sufficient in form and substance. The protestee’s [Robredo’s] prayer to dismiss the protest for lack of jurisdiction and for being insufficient in form and substance is denied,” it added.
The PET noted that Marcos’s protest contained narrations of ultimate facts on the alleged irregularities and anomalies in the contested clustered precincts, which the protestant needs to prove in due time.
Contrary to Robredo’s claim, the PET said they have jurisdiction to act on the electoral protest as mandated by the 1987 Constitution.
“Section IV, Article VII of the 1987 Constitution in relation to Rule 13 of the 2010 PET Rules provides that the Tribunal shall be the sole judge of all contests relating to the election, returns and qualifications of the President and Vice President. The phrase ‘election, election returns and qualifications’ refers to all matters affecting the validity of the contestee’s title, which includes questions on the validity, authenticity and correctness of the certificates of canvass [COCs]’,” the PET said.
At the same time, it stressed that, while they found the protest sufficient in form and substance, the veracity of Marcos’s allegations against Robredo has yet to be proven.
In her verified answer to Marcos’s protest, Robredo argued that the PET has no jurisdiction over the election protest, because it improperly questions the authenticity and due execution of the COCs, and that it should have been raised in a preproclamation case before Congress acting as the National Board of Canvassers.
Marcos, through his lawyer and Spokesman Victor Rodriguez, immediately welcomed the PET resolution.
“We are hoping that with this resolution, there will be an end to all these delays, and we can finally move forward. There is a need to ferret out the truth as to what really transpired during the vice-presidential race last May,” Rodriguez said.
“We just want the truth to come out. It’s that simple,” Rodriguez said.
In his election protest, Marcos sought the nullification of the proclamation of Robredo as duly elected vice president of the country, as this was a result of massive electoral frauds committed to ensure her victory.
Marcos is specifically contesting the election results in 39,221 clustered precincts in 25 provinces and five highly urbanized cities all over the country.
The former senator pointed out that, through a series of electoral frauds, anomalies and irregularities, people behind the whole operation made sure that Robredo would win and that his votes would be reduced.
Marcos explained his petition has three parts—the first is the “flawed” automated election system; the second consists of the more “traditional” modes of cheating, like vote buying, preshading, intimidation and failure of elections, among others; and the third focuses on the unauthorized introduction by Smartmatic’s Marlon Garcia of a new hash code (or a new script program) into the transparency server, as well as the effects brought about by the unauthorized change.
The case has reportedly been raffled off to Associate Justice Alfredo Benjamin Caguioa, last appointee of former President Benigno S. Aquino III to the SC. Caguioa is tasked to study the protest and submit recommendations for actions of the PET.
Marcos earlier said he decided to file the electoral protest owing to the series of frauds, anomalies and irregularities that marred the May 9 elections, and that such activities made sure he would lose to Robredo, the vice-presidential candidate of the administration’s Liberal Party.
In the same ruling, the PET junked Marcos plea calling on the Tribunal to dismiss Robredo’s verified answer to her protest and expunge it from the records saying that Robredo was able to file it within the time required for her to do so.