Law students urge PET: Stick to 25% shading rule

A group of aspiring lawyers from the Bicol region on Wednesday pleaded with the Supreme Court, acting as the Presidential Electoral Tribunal (PET), to sustain the 25-percent shading threshold set by the Commission on Elections (Comelec) in the revision of votes for the May 2016 vice-presidential race.

In a letter to the PET, law students from Ateneo de Naga University, University of Santo Tomas-Legazpi City, University of Nueva Caceres and Bicol College expressed concern over its decision to impose a 50-percent minimum ballot-shading requirement in hearing the electoral protest of former Sen. Ferdinand Marcos Jr. against Vice President Leni Robredo.

Yssa Abañez, a representative of the group, said they wanted to protect the integrity of the votes cast in the last elections.

“If the 50-percent threshold would be imposed, the results of the elections would be altered,” Abañez told reporters.

Mary Joy Acobera, another leader of the group, said it was just proper for the PET to affirm the rules of the Comelec.

As argued by Robredo and her lawyers, the law students said requiring a higher shading threshold in the ongoing vote recount would only “lead to the disenfranchisement of votes for both” the Vice President and Marcos. —Marlon Ramos