Leni, Bongbong fined for violating gag order

Former Senator Bongbong Marcos and  Vice President Leni Robredo slapped with P50,000 fine. INQUIRER FILES

The Presidential Electoral Tribunal (PET) has fined both the camps of Vice President Leni Robredo and former senator Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos for violating the gag order it issued last April.

Both parties were required to pay P50,000 for violating the sub judice rule.

A sub judice rule means that parties to a case are prohibited from discussing to the public the merits of their case while it is pending in court.

In its Feb. 13 resolution, the tribunal ordered the parties to strictly observe the sub judice rule pending the proceedings of the instant case and this was reiterated in another resolution dated March 20.

The PET then issued a show cause order last April saying that despite the warnings, several news reports have shown that the parties, their counsels and/or representatives, have continued to disclose sensitive information regarding the revision process to the public, in clear violation of the aforementioned resolutions.

Marcos filed the protest on June 29, 2016, claiming that the camp of Robredo cheated in the automated polls in May that year.

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./ac