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Manila, Philippines – The Supreme Court, constituted as the Presidential Electoral Tribunal (PET), ordered the Electoral Commission (Comelec) and the Attorney General’s Office (OSG) to comment on former Senator Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos’s proposal to annul the election. results in three Mindanao provinces.
In a statement released this Wednesday, the PET ordered Comelec to present in 20 days its comment on issues related to the nullity of elections in relation to Marcos’ third cause of action in his electoral protest against Vice President Leni Robredo, who is the nullity of electoral results in Lanao del Sur, Basilan and Maguindanao for alleged terrorism, intimidation, electoral harassment and pre-shadowing of ballots.
The court also ordered the electoral body and GSO to comment on whether the PET has the power to declare the annulment of elections without special elections; and the failure of the elections and ordering the holding of special elections.
Likewise, the PET asked Comelec and GSO if the declaration of failure of the elections by the court and the order for special elections would violate the constitutional mandate of the electoral body.
The court also ordered the electoral body to inform the judges if petitions were filed for the failure of the elections in the three Mindanao provinces; whether the requests were granted or denied and whether special elections were held in those areas, and the results of these special elections.
Likewise, it ordered that Comelec and OSG receive copies of its resolution of October 15, 2019 and of the separate memoranda submitted by the Robredo and Marcos camps on said resolution.
In a statement, Robredo’s side welcomed the development and said it will help speed up the resolution of the electoral protest.
“We will comply with the order of the Superior Court and await the comments of the Electoral Commission and the Attorney General on pending matters,” said attorney Beng Sardillo, Robredo’s attorney.
“We fully believe that the High Court will support the victory of Vice President Leni Robredo as seen in the 2016 results and the vote count. In 2016, our lead was 263,473 votes. And after the recount, our lead increased to 278,566 votes, “added Sardillo.
The Marcos camp, for its part, views the order “with extreme reserve”, as it added “another layer that would cause a tremendous delay” in referring the matter to Comelec and the GSO.
Marcos’s spokesman, attorney Vic Rodríguez, said his protest is under real threat of becoming moot and academic because there is so little time left in the contested post term.
“Our electoral protest has become a threat to be debatable and academic because the events of 2022 (elections) are already near, the presentation of the candidacy is approaching, the campaign period and the conduct of the national elections are here,” He said. he said. – RRD (with details from correspondent Dante Amento)
