Malacañang respects PET ruling on Marcos’ VP poll protest

MANILA – Malacañang on Tuesday said it respects the decision of the Supreme Court (SC), sitting as the Presidential Electoral Tribunal (PET), to dismiss the electoral protest lodged by former senator Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. against Vice President Maria Leonor “Leni” Robredo.

“‘Yan ay desisyon ng kataas-taasang hukuman (That is the decision of the Supreme Court). We respect that and we respect also that the camp of Senator Bongbong Marcos has a further remedy of moving for reconsideration,” Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque said in a virtual presser.

All 15 magistrates unanimously voted for the dismissal of the vice presidential poll protest filed against Robredo, SC spokesperson Brian Keith Hosaka announced on Tuesday.

Hosaka said seven SC justices “fully” concurred in the dismissal of Marcos’ electoral protest, while eight others concurrent in the results.

On June 29, 2016, Marcos filed an electoral protest before the PET to challenge Robredo’s victory in the vice presidential elections held the same year.

Marcos had claimed that Robredo defeated him in the 2016 vice presidential race by some 263,473 votes due to alleged “massive cheating.”

Asked if President Rodrigo Duterte would now have a good working relationship with Robredo following the dismissal of the poll protest, Roque said nothing would change since the Chief Executive always considers the Vice President as the second-highest official in the country.

“I don’t think it will make any difference because the President has always referred to VP Leni as the Vice President,” he said.

‘Submit, concede’ to majority

In a separate statement, Chief Presidential Legal Counsel Salvador Panelo said the PET’s unanimous decision appears to validate Robredo’s win “on the basis of law and of the evidence presented before it by both parties.”

“Perforce, rule of law has prevailed. Due process was evidently observed with both parties having been given the opportunity to present their respective cases. As a general rule, the electorate’s decision is to be accorded the stamp of correctness. Every rule however by universal practice admits of an exception,” he said.

While Marcos, his camp, and supporters may view the ruling as “incorrect,” they have no choice but to accept the PET’s decision “no matter how wrong or unacceptable to them,” Panelo said.

“That is the rule of the majority. We have to abide by the precepts of democracy. We cannot be blinded by our personal biases for a particular candidate. That is how democracy works. The minority must submit and concede to the majority,” he said. “The Presidential Electoral Tribunal has spoken. It behooves everyone to abide by it. And so we must.”

Panelo added that there is always another election to “vindicate one’s loss or validate forever one’s rejection” by Filipino voters.