PET wants Leni, Bongbong to stop public dispute

The Supreme Court, sitting as the Presidential Electoral Tribunal (PET), has ordered Vice President Maria Leonor “Leni” Robredo and former Sen. Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. to explain why they should not be cited for contempt for continuing to debate their dispute in public.

The PET noted that it had already directed the parties to “strictly observe” the sub judice rule in resolutions issued Feb. 13 and Mar. 20.

In an April 10 resolution signed by clerk of court Edgar Aricheta, the court noted that sensitive details of the ongoing revision process had been leaked to the media, including direct quotes.

‘Show cause’

“To preserve the sanctity of the proceedings, both parties are hereby directed to show cause and explain why they should not be cited [for] contempt by the tribunal,” the resolution stated.

The camps were given 10 days to reply to the order.

The tribunal also denied for lack of merit Robredo’s urgent ex parte motion to direct the head revisers to apply the supposedly correct 25-percent threshold percentage in the revision, recount and reappreciation of ballots.

25-percent threshold

Robredo wanted the reviser to adopt the Comelec’s 25-percent threshold in counting the shaded ovals in the ballots, but the PET said there was no such percentage threshold in the current rules.

The PET said that while the reviser may determine whether the mark or shade in the oval is within a threshold, either party may still make objections.

Marcos filed the protest in June 2016, contesting the results from 132,446 precincts in 27 provinces and cities.

Robredo was proclaimed winner of the vice presidential race with a margin of 263,473 votes.