The Supreme Court, sitting as Presidential Electoral Tribunal (PET), on Thursday issued a show cause order against Vice President Leni Robredo and former senator Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. for violating the rule that prohibits disclosure of information involving the election protest in the 2016 vice presidential race.
In a five-page resolution made public Thursday, the PET ordered both camps to explain why they should not be cited for contempt of court.
The high court gave both parties 10 days to submit their explanation.
In the resolutions dated February 13, 2018 and March 20, 2018, both parties were ordered to observe the sub judice rule ordering them to stop discussing the merits of the protest in public.
“Despite these stern directives of the Tribunal, several news reports have shown that the parties, their counsels and/or representatives, have nonetheless continued to disclose sensitive information regarding the revision process to the public, in clear violation of the aforementioned resolutions,” the PET explained in its latest directive.
“To be sure, the statements of the parties with respect to matters or concerns already referred to or pending resolution of the Tribunal, as well as statements and remarks pertaining resolution of the Tribunal, as well as statements and remarks pertaining to the integrity of the revision process are within the clear ambit of the sub judice rule,” it stressed.
Sub judice (under judgment) prohibits parties to a case from making public statements regarding a pending case to arouse public opinion. A violation of the sub judice rule is punishable under Rule 71 of the Rules of Court.
The PET already started the recount last April 2 involving the three pilot provinces chosen by Marcos – Camarines Sur, Iloilo and Negros Oriental.
In his protest, Marcos contested the results from 132,446 precincts in 39,221 clusters covering 27 provinces and cities.
Robredo won the vice presidential race in the May 2016 polls with 14,418,817 votes or 263,473 more than Marcos’ 14,155,344 votes.