A GAG order has been issued by the Supreme Court (SC) sitting as the Presidential Electoral Tribunal (PET) preventing the camps of former Sen. Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. and Vice President Maria Leonor G. Robredo from discussing the proceedings in connection
with the election protests.
“Considering that the revision process is about to commence, the tribunal directs both protestant and protestee to observe the sub judice rule,” the PET said in a two-page order dated February 13, 2018.
It can be recalled that both camps have been holding news conferences to discuss issues surrounding the election protest.
Lawyer Vic Rodriguez, counsel of Marcos, said they would comply with the order.
“Yes we have received our copy of the PET resolution. Essentially, it is just a reminder from the tribunal for the parties to observe the sub judice rule, which restricts litigants and their lawyers to make comments and/or disclosures on a pending judicial proceedings so that
the case be decided upon evidence presented before the court and the determination of such facts should be uninfluenced by bias, prejudice and sympathies. Fair and accurate reporting of what actually took place in open court are excluded from its coverage,” Rodriguez said.
In the same resolution, the PET also directed Marcos’s camp to comment on the motion filed by Robredo to “withdraw any and all pending motions which may delay recount proceedings.” The PET also compelled Marcos to inform the tribunal whether it would
also be filing a similar motion.
“Based on the records of this case, the tribunal finds that there are no such pending motions from protestee. Accordingly, the tribunal resolves to note the motion and require the protestant to submit his comment thereon and inform the tribunal if he intends to file a
similar motion as that filed by protestee within 10 days from notice hereof,” the PET said.
Earlier, both camps agreed to withdraw all the motions they had filed before PET to be able to proceed with the recount.
The PET is set to begin the recount next month.
The recount would cover the three pilot provinces of Camarines Sur, Iloilo and Negros Oriental, which were chosen by Marcos as the best provinces where he could prove the irregularities he cited in his poll protest.
Robredo’s counsel, Romulo Macalintal said the recount covering the three pilot provinces of Camarines Sur, Iloilo and Negros Oriental would commence on March 19.
In his election protest filed on June 29, 2016, Marcos claimed that the camp of Robredo cheated in the automated polls in May that year.
Marcos is specifically questioning election results in 132,446 precincts in 39,221, clustered precincts covering 27 provinces and cities. In his preliminary conference briefing, Marcos also sought for a recount in Camarines Sur, Iloilo and Negros Oriental.
Robredo was declared winner in the 2016 vice presidential race with 14,418,817 votes, or 263,473 more than Marcos’s 14,155,344 votes.