ASEANEWS HEADLINES: MANILA- Supreme Court (SC) postpones voting on poll case vs Leni

October 9, 2019October 9, 2019 Editor 0 Comment ASEANEWS HEADLINES: MANILA- Supreme Court (SC) postpones voting on poll case vs Leni

Supreme Court (SC), sitting as Presidential Electoral Tribunal, postponed for the third time on Tuesday voting on the draft ruling on the electoral protest filed by former senator Ferdinang “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. against Vice President Maria Leonor “Leni” Robredo.

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LONG WAIT Supporters of former senator Ferdinand ‘Bongbong’ Marcos Jr. flash peace signs on their way to the Ermita church where they heard a solidarity Mass while waiting for word from the Supreme Court. PHOTO BY DJ DIOSINA

Sources at the high court said the justices were not ready to deliberate and vote on the ponencia of Associate Justice Benjamin Caguioa, who recommended the dismissal of the case for lack of merit.

Sources told The Manila Times that while three magistrates have circulated their opinions or “reflections” on Caguioa’s draft ruling, many of the court’s members have yet to complete theirs, thus they moved to defer the voting to have more time to study the case and write their own separate opinions.

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The justices will vote on October 15 during the court’s en banc session.

Supreme Court spokesman Brian Keith Hosaka confirmed on Tuesday that “the case remains pending and is still to be deliberated by the members of the tribunal.”

This will be the third postponement for the case after Caguioa has issued his 54-page Draft Recommendation to the case. It also deferred proceedings on September 24 and on October based on the prodding of some justices.
Sources said there were disagreements during the closed door en banc session on Tuesday, with some justices pushing to hold the voting and others wanting to be given more time to study the case.

Caguioa’s draft ruling, according to unimpeachable sources, dismisses outright Marcos’ protest. If majority of the magistrates agreed with Caguioa, it would mean that the tribunal would no longer proceed with the second stage of the case, which is to determine if fraud marred the vice presidential election.

But sources had claimed that nine to 11 justices were inclined to reject Caguioa’s draft ruling. There are at present only 14 justices because President Rodrigo Duterte has yet to appoint a new member to replace Associate Justice Francis Jardeleza who retired last month.

The sources said “an overwhelming majority” of the justices wants to pursue the case. If the Caguioa ponencia will be rejected, then the court would proceed to the reception of evidence to determine if there was electoral fraud in the vice presidential contest.

In his protest, Marcos, who lost to Robredo by only 263,473 votes, assailed the election results, claiming that massive electoral fraud, anomalies and irregularities marred the election.

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‘Business as usual’

The camp of Robredo said it is “business as usual” for the Office of the Vice President.
Robredo’s spokesman Barry Gutierrez said the vice president was prepared to answer queries about the case but had to leave for Sydney, Australia for a speaking engagement this week.

“Handa na nga sana kami na magsasalita si VP before she left for her trip sa Australia. Pero ngayong lumabas na finally iyong desisyon na hindi nga nag-deliberation kaninang tanghali at baka ma-push na naman to next week, then business as usual tayo and we just have to wait again for iyong developments sa susunod na Tuesday, October 8, 2019 (The VP was prepared to discuss the issue before she left for her trip to Australia. But now that the SC decided not to deliberate on the issue, then it’s business as usual for us and we will just have to wait again for developments next Tuesday),” Gutierrez said.

Robredo will meet the Filipinos in Australia after she gives a speech before the Australia-Philippines Business Council.

Meanwhile, the Vice President’s camp remains hopeful that it will receive a copy of the committee report on the revision, recount and re-appreciation of ballots from the three pilot provinces identified by Marcos in his protest — Camarines Sur, Iloilo, and Negros Oriental./ Supreme Court (SC)

WITH GLEE JALEA

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