Sen. Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO
The son and namesake of the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos has again urged the Supreme Court, acting as the Presidential Electoral Tribunal (PET), to fast-track the resolution of his petition challenging the victory of Vice President Leni Robredo.
Former Sen. Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. specifically sought the designation of three hearing officers to help the 15-member tribunal ensure “an orderly, simplified and expeditious disposition” of his electoral protest.
Marcos, who lost by more than 260,000 votes to Robredo in the May 2016 balloting, has accused the Vice President of stalling the tribunal’s action on his petition.
“(I)t is neither fair nor just to keep in office for an uncertain period one whose right to it is under suspicion,” Marcos said in a seven-page urgent motion dated May 12.
George Erwin Garcia, Marcos’ lawyer, said it was important for the PET to take up Marcos’ allegations “not only for the benefit of the winner, but for the sake of public interest.”
“In a long line of decided cases, this honorable tribunal has consistently ruled that an election case, unlike an ordinary action, is imbued with public interest,” Marcos said.
“Public interest demands that this electoral controversy be resolved with dispatch to determine once and for all the genuine choice of the electorate for the contested position,” he argued.
The former senator said his poll protest “involves not only the adjudication of the private interests of rival candidates, but also the paramount need of dispelling the uncertainty which beclouds the real choice of the electorate.”
Marcos has questioned the election results in 132,446 polling precincts. He has paid an initial P36 million of the P66.2-million cash bond required by the PET.
Robredo has filed a counterprotest covering results from 31,278 polling precincts for which she was ordered by the poll tribunal to pay a P15.5-million fee. She has paid P8 million as first installment.
Last month, the tribunal granted Marcos’ petition to set the preliminary conference of his electoral protest on June 21.