Electoral court orders Comelec to comment on vice president’s electoral protest

Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, September 30) – The Supreme Court, constituted as the Presidential Electoral Tribunal, has asked the Electoral Commission to respond to pending issues in the 2016 electoral protest filed against Vice President Leni Robredo by her defeated opponent, former Senator Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr.

PET responded on Tuesday to the so-called third cause of action in Marcos’ petition that seeks to ignore the votes of Basilan, Lanao del Sur and Maguindanao due to alleged electoral fraud and terrorism.

The 12 magistrates present unanimously ordered the voting body to report whether there were petitions submitted due to the failure of the elections in these disputed provinces. If requests were submitted, it would ask Comelec for updates if they were granted or denied. He also asked Comelec to present the results in the event of extraordinary elections held in these areas in the event of an election failure during the 2016 national elections.

In his electoral protest presented a month after election day. Marcos urged the high court to annul the votes of these Mindanao provinces for “massive fraud”, citing Comelec’s technical examination of the results. He also cast doubt on the survey results after his assertion of “widespread presence of terrorism, violence, threats, coercion, force, intimidation, and voter harassment, as well as the prior shadowing of ballots in the 2,756 clustered districts.”

The court gave Comelec 20 days after receiving his order to comment.

The voting body and the Attorney General’s Office, José Cálida, were also ordered to give their legal opinions to “reach a complete, fair and efficient resolution.” PET asked them if the court can declare the annulment of the elections without special elections and if it can declare the elections failure and order the holding of special elections. They were also asked whether PET will violate Comelec’s mandate if it declares the election failure.

Robredo and Marcos had 15 days to respond after receiving comments from Comelec and OSG.

Marcos filed an electoral protest against Robredo on June 30, 2016, questioning the results of the polls. Robredo was proclaimed vice president after gaining a 263,473 vote lead against Marcos. A recount began in April 2018 covering the electoral precincts in Iloilo, Camarines Sur, the Robredo jurisdiction, and Negros Oriental, which were areas selected by Marcos’s camp.

The court, in October 2019, found that Robredo’s lead grew by around 15,000 votes or a total of 278,566 votes after a vote recount of the 5,415 electoral districts grouped in Camarines Sur, Iloilo and Negros Oriental.

Robredo received 477,985 votes in Lanao del Sur, Basilan and Maguindanao against 169,160 votes for Marcos. Overriding the votes of these provinces would effectively eliminate Robredo’s advantage during the May 2016 elections.

Caguioa and Carpio previously voted to dismiss Marcos’ electoral protest due to the violation of Rule 65 of the PET, which establishes that a protester must choose for the count no more than three provinces “better exemplifying the frauds or irregularities alleged in his petition” .