Top court rejects ex-senator’s petition
MANILA: The Supreme Court (SC), siting as the Presidential Electoral Tribunal, junked a petition of former senator Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos, the only son and namesake of the late dictator, to inhibit a member of the tribunal who heads a panel from hearing his election protest.
In a “briefer,” the SC information office confirmed the tribunal “unanimously” rejected not only the motion of Marcos but also a similar move filed by Solicitor General Jose Calida.
The two motions aimed to inhibit Associate Justice Marvic Leonen who was assigned to handle the election protest filed by Marcos against Vice President Leni Robredo for alleged cheating in the May 2016 elections.
Significantly, both Marcos and Calida filed their motions on the same day, Nov. 9. But Marcos claimed he did not talk to Calida over the issue.
Legal experts also pointed out that as the solicitor general, or the country’s top government lawyer, he was not expected to join Marcos in his move. However, Calida, who admited he campaigned for Marcos in the 2016 elections, argued he was entitled to do so as the “tribune of the people.”
But the High Court ordered Calida to show cause why he should not be cited for contempt for seeking the inhibition of Leonen, who was appointed to the tribunal by then president Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino.
Marcos has repeatedly accused Leonen of alleged bias in the handling of the protest he filed against Robredo who was declared the winner by the Commission on Elections in the vice presidential race in the May 2016 polls.
Marcos claimed that Robredo won by a narrow margin of more than 200,000 votes which was, however, achieved through alleged cheating and other election anomalies. But Robredo countered that in the counting of the votes in some areas specified by Marcos, her winning margin had even significantly increased.
Political observers pointed out that the latest legal maneuvering of Marcos and Calida was related to the coming 2022 elections, which will mark the end of the fixed-year six-year terms of President Rodrigo Duterte and Robredo as mandated by the Constitution.