Preliminary conference for Marcos-Robredo poll protests set

THE Supreme Court (SC) acting as Presidential Electoral Tribunal (PET) has granted the motion filed by former Senator Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr. to set the poll protest he filed against Vice President Maria Leonor "Leni" Robredo for preliminary conference.

According to the SC, the first conference would be on June 21 at 2 p.m.

The SC said issues to be discussed during the preliminary conference should include not just Marcos' protest but also Robredo's counter-protest.

"The PET has deemed it proper to conduct the preliminary conference of both protests jointly and that the issues raised during the preliminary conference should include issues of the Protest and the Counter-Protest," the resolution read.

The electoral tribunal has also required both parties to file their respective Preliminary Conference Briefs at least five days before the conference.

It must contain the following:

1) The possibility of obtaining stipulations or admissions of facts and documents to avoid unnecessary proof

2) The simplification of the issues

3) The limitation of the number of witnesses

4) The most expeditious manner for the retrieval of ballot boxes containing the ballots, elections returns, certificates of canvass and other election documents involved in the election protest

5) Other matters as may aid in the prompt dispostion of the election protest and counter-protest.

The SC in a separate ruling on Tuesday also rendered dismissed the motion filed by Robredo for the deferment of the payment of the first tranche of her protest fee amounting to P8 million.

Both Marcos and Robredo are required by the SC to settle cash deposit in two tranches for the retrieval of the contested ballots in 163,000 precincts in the country.

Marcos needs to pay a total of P66.23 million and Robredo, P15.44 million.

Losing vice presidential candidate Marcos has already settled the first tranche amounting to P36.02 million last April 17.