It is “game over” for the camp of former Senator Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr., whose protest of the 2016 vice presidential results was dismissed by the Presidential Electoral Tribunal (PET) on Tuesday, February 16.
(Photo by Jansen Romero / MANILA BULLETIN)
Lawyer Romulo Macalintal, lead counsel for Vice President Leni Robredo, said it is “very hard to overturn a 15-member en banc voting unanimously dismissing the case.”
“For us, this is game over,” Macalintal, who was on CNN The Source on Wednesday, said.
Reports said Marcos’ camp is considering to file a motion for reconsideration after the Supreme Court, sitting as PET, dismissed the entire electoral protest.
SC spokesperson Brian Keith Hosaka announced that out of 15 justices who were present during the en banc session, “seven members fully concurred in the dismissal while eight justices concurred in the results.”
Although the 15 justices have “different grounds for dismissal,” Macalintal said the merit of Marcos’ motion for reconsideration will depend if they have a “strong basis after reviewing the entire decision.”
Robredo’s camp has yet to receive a copy of the decision from PET, although the vice president during a briefing on Tuesday night said that the Supreme Court clarified that the entire electoral protest has been dismissed.
This was after the camp of the defeated former senator said that the PET has only junked one part of the protest.
Marcos’ spokesperson Vic Rodriguez said they are being “cautious and prudent,” as the strict legal meaning of the election protest pertains only to “manual recount and judicial revision.”
Meanwhile, Macalintal’s co-counsel Ma. Bernadette Sardillo said Robredo’s entire legal team feels relieved and grateful “for the justices upholding the rule of law.”
Aside from the two, Robredo’s legal team was comprised of lawyers Emil Marañon, Ace Bautista, Reagan de Guzman, and Jazmin Banal.
“And at the same time, we are grateful, of course, that the victory of Vice President Leni Robredo during the 2016 elections has been affirmed by the Supreme Court. We can now put this behind us,” she said over ANC Headstart interview.
“After all, the confirmation of her victory did not come just once when she was proclaimed during the 2016 elections,” she added.
Sardillo said Robredo already won against Marcos for the third time—the second was when the results of the recount gave the vice president an additional lead of 15,000 votes and the third and final time was when “it has been confirmed by the Supreme Court.”