Robredo claims upper hand in PET case

In the election protest she is facing, Vice President Leni Robredo appears to have gained the upper-hand again.

The Supreme Court (SC) denied the appeal of former Senator Ferdinand Marcos Jr. to reconsider its earlier ruling on the technical examination of ballots in Lanao del Sur, Basilan, and Maguindanao.

The SC, sitting as the Presidential Electoral Tribunal (PET), upheld its decision on August 29 that “no technical examination” can be conducted from the three Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) provinces.

The PET ruling was dated November 7, but Robredo’s lawyers only released a copy of the notice from the court about the resolution on Tuesday.

“Deny, for lack of merit, the partial motion for reconsideration (of the resolution dated Aug. 29, 2017), dated Sept. 15, 2017 filed by counsel for protestant Marcos Jr.,” the document read.

“Thus, the Tribunal’s resolution dated Aug. 29, 2017 to defer action on protestant’s motion for technical examination stands given the reasons stated therein,” it added.

As his third cause of action, Marcos sought for the technical and forensic examination of all ballots from Basilan, Maguindanao, and Lanao del Sur. These are the provinces where he wants votes nullified due to alleged election fraud.

But the PET deferred action on his request in its Aug. 29 decision.

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