Vice President Leni Robredo’s legal counsel downplayed as mere speculation former Senator Bongbong Marcos’ petition seeking the inhibition of Associate Justice Alfredo Benjamin Caguioa from handling his electoral protest.
“The motion is not supported by any “strong and compelling evidence” in proving the supposed bias. It is basic that mere conjectures and speculations cannot justify the inhibition of a Judge or Justice from a judicial matter,” said Romulo Macalintal, Robredo’s legal counsel, in a statement on Monday.
READ: Bongbong wants Associate Justice out of his election case
“It is unfortunate that the motion is based on mere speculations, whims, and caprices of Mr. Marcos,” Macalintal added.
Marcos earlier filed a motion with the Supreme Court, sitting as the Presidential Electoral Tribunal, seeking the immediate inhibition of Caguioa from his electoral protest, claiming that the Justice’s wife campaigned for Robredo in the vice presidential election in 2016.
Macalintal also said Marcos’ petition was “simply intended to delay the proceedings to suit his political agenda.”
“It is a clear indication that he is losing all hopes in his bid to wrest the vice-presidential post now that the Commission on Elections (Comelec) reiterated that it used 25-percent shading threshold during the 2016 national and local elections,” Macalintal said.
“Now that the Comelec has belied his frivolous argument to use the 50-percent threshold, Mr. Marcos is making noise against a Supreme Court Justice. And this after his spokesperson recently impugned the integrity of the Comelec Commissioners after the Comelec has filed its Comment with the PET,” he noted.
Macalintal added that Marcos’ recent move “will set a bad precedent for the High Court where a party will seek an inhibition of one of the Supreme Court members if things don’t go the party’s way.” /vvp