A lawyer of Vice President Leni Robredo has taunted the camp of former senator Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. for its insistence the Supreme Court only dismissed a portion of its election protest.
Lawyer Emil Marañon raised why it is hard for Marcos to accept defeat given that the SC, acting as the Presidential Electoral Tribunal (PET), had already decided to dismiss the case.
In a Twitter post, Marañon said he could not understand what Marcos spokesperson Vic Rodriguez is fighting for in the third cause of action of their election protest.
“Even a first year law student would know that when a case is dismissed, it means the dismissal of all causes of action raised,” he wrote.
Robredo’s lawyer, in another tweet, posted a gif video of laughing Chandler and Joey, the characters from the American sitcom, Friends. He captioned it with: “Election lawyers watching Vic Rodriguez’ interviews.”
Marañon was referring to Marcos spokesperson’s television interviews, where Rodriguez said they want a clarification to find out if the PET dismissed the entire protest or only its plea for manual recount.
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.”
Marcos had three causes of action in his protest, one of which was a recount, revision, and re-appreciation of ballots from Camarines Sur, Iloilo, and Negros Oriental. These were the pilot provinces chosen by Marcos.
During the recount in October 2019, the PET said that Robredo’s lead grew by 15,000 votes from the 5,415 clustered precincts. This prompted the Marcos camp to pursue a third cause of action to nullify votes from Maguindanao, Lanao del Sur, and Basilan due to alleged election fraud.
On Tuesday, February 16, the PET unanimously junked Marcos’ electoral protest for lack of merit, with seven justices fully concurred in the dismissal while eight concurred in the results. Robredo’s counter-protest was also dismissed.