Palace hands off PET deliberation on Marcos vs Robredo

MANILA, Philippines — Malacañang will not interfere with the deliberation of the Presidential Electoral Tribunal on the poll protest filed by former Sen. Ferdinand Marcos Jr. against Vice President Leni Robredo.

“We will leave it to the tribunal to decide on its own whatever pending cases it has,” presidential spokesman Salvador Panelo said in a press briefing on Tuesday.

Given that President Rodrigo Duterte abides by the law, Panelo said the Palace would accept whatever decision the PET would make in the case.

“Well, you know, the President is always on the side of the law. Whatever the law says, he should enforce it,” Panelo said.

“We will not intrude into the competence and the authority of the Presidential Electoral Tribunal. It has to decide on its own on the basis of what is required by law and the evidence,” he added.

The Supreme Court sitting as the PET has deferred again the voting on the results of Marcos’s electoral protest against Robredo.

The tribunal will reportedly reset deliberations for Oct. 15.

READ: PET resets deliberation on Marcos poll protest to Oct 15 – source

Marcos has been contesting Robredo’s victory as vice president after the latter defeated him by a margin of 263,473 votes in the 2016 national elections.

/atm