Panelo pushes Leni vs Bongbong in 2022

Chief Presidential Legal Counsel Secretary Salvador Panelo on Wednesday urged former senator Bongbong Marcos Jr. to settle his failed poll dispute with Vice President Leni Robredo in the upcoming 2022 national elections.

“Maybe settle this in an election. In the end, people’s choice will be followed,” Panelo said. “If I were you Senator Bongbong Marcos, if VP Leni will run in any position, except for president which I doubt she will, fight her to resolve the issue on who really won,” he added.

This comes after the Presidential Electoral Tribunal (PET) released the full copy of its decision on Monday dismissing the electoral protest filed by Marcos against Robredo in relation to 2016 Philippine general election.

The former lawyer of the Marcos family said Marcos should accept the Court’s decision. “That is way it is,” he said.

“That is how judicial system works, we have procedures, they followed, you were both granted with your demands,” he said.

He also said that Marcos should accept the Court’s decision even if he disagrees with it. “That is the final decision of the Court, we have to respect it even if we are not in agreement. That is the way it is,” he added.

In PET’s 93-page decision, the court said Marcos “failed to substantiate his allegations of massive anomalies and irregularities in protester’s favor.”

“Instead, he chose to make sweeping allegations of wrongdoing and submitted incomplete and incorrect data. His abject failure to support his claims leaves this Tribunal with no other recourse but to dismiss his Protest,” it added.