The Supreme Court (SC), sitting as the Presidential Electoral Tribunal (PET), has issued a show cause order directing the camps of former Senator Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. and Vice President Maria Leonor G. Robredo to explain why they should not sanctioned for violating its gag order in connection with the ongoing recount of votes for the 2016 vice presidential race based on the protest case filed by Marcos.
The PET, in a resolution issued on April 10 signed by Edgardo Aricheta, clerk of the Tribunal, gave the two parties 10 days to show cause and explain why they should not be cited in contempt for violating the resolutions dated February 13, 2018 and March 20, 2018 issued by the PET.
In its February 13, 2018 resolution, the PET ordered the parties to strictly observe the sub judice rule pending the proceedings of the case. This was reiterated in the Tribunal’s resolution dated March 20, 2018.
The PET, however, noted that despite the directives, several news reports have shown that the parties, their counsels and/or representatives, have continued to disclose sensitive information regarding the revision process to the public, in clear violation of the aforementioned resolutions.
“To be sure, the statements of the parties with respect to matters or concerns already referred to or pending resolution of the Tribunal, as well as statements and remarks pertaining to the integrity of the revision process are within the clear ambit of the sub judice rule. In this regard, to preserve the sanctity of the proceedings, both parties are hereby directed to show cause and explain why they should not be cited in contempt by the Tribunal,” the resolution said.
Also in the same resolution, PET denied for lack of merit Robredo’s urgent motion to direct the head revisors to apply the correct threshold percentage as set by the Commission on Elections in the revision, recount and re-appreciation of the ballots, in order to expedite the proceedings for lack of merit.
The PET said it still cannot determine when the recount will be finished.
The recount is being conducted on Monday until Friday, from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., with two 15-minute breaks and a one-hour lunch break.
Marcos sought the recount of votes for the VP post claiming that the camp of Robredo cheated in the automated polls in May that year.
In his protest, Marcos contested the results from 132,446 precincts in 39,221 clusters, covering 27 provinces and cities.
Robredo won the vice presidential race in the May 2016 polls with 14,418,817 votes or 263,473 more than Marcos’ 14,155,344 votes.