POLL PROTEST | Marcos refuses to give up, seeks annulment of votes in Mindanao anew

May 11, 2021 , 03:09 PM

(May 11, 2021) – Bongbong Marcos remains unfazed months after the Supreme Court, sitting as the Presidential Electoral Tribunal (PET), dismissed his election protest against Vice President Leni Robredo, insisting votes in three Mindanao provinces should be nullified over fraud.

In a 96-page motion released on Tuesday, Marcos sought to convince the PET to proceed with his third cause of action to annul the votes in Basilan, Lanao del Sur, and Maguindanao whose elections were allegedly marred by widespread terrorism, violence, and threats.

Marcos insisted his appeal should be treated independently from his earlier cause of action where he picked three pilot provinces for a recount. He asserted that Rule 65, which states protestants can only choose three pilot provinces for a recount in their election protest, was incorrectly applied in junking his case entirely.

Marcos originally selected Camarines Sur, Iloilo, and Negros Oriental, but the recount yielded more than 15,000 additional votes for Robredo, who won by a slim margin of over 250,000 votes in the 2016 elections.

“The majority opinion committed a grave error when it failed to recognize the annulment of election results as an independent, distinct and separate cause of action, which can proceed on its own despite the dismissal of his cause of action for judicial revision and manual recounting of ballots,” said Marcos in his motion for reconsideration.

But the PET, in its unanimous decision last February, had already ruled Marcos’ appeal cannot be granted since he failed to establish his case by merely providing bare accusations.

Most Supreme Court justices argued, in the opinion written by Associate Justice Marvic Leonen, that granting the third cause of action may “risk frustrating the valid exercise of the nation’s democratic will and subject it to the endless whims of a defeated candidate.”

Besides, Robredo still would have won even when the votes in these three provinces were nullified, according to the decision.

Marcos said he had no intention to revisit his junked second cause of action “for practical reasons” but he believed the third cause of action should survive. Citing the Reynaldo Abayon versus House of Representatives case in 2016, he argued the PET can proceed with the annulment of elections as it was different from a failure of elections.

“The (tribunal) does so only to determine who among the candidates garnered a majority of the legal votes cast,” said Marcos.

The PET, however, was clear in its unanimous decision that Marcos failed to meet the requirements to proceed with the possible annulment of votes. Marcos should have been able to prove more than half of the ballots cast in the affected provinces were illegal and Robredo was involved in the proliferation of unauthorized ballots.

Marcos urged the PET to give him a chance to present his evidence, saying due process should not be overlooked.

“The existence or non-existence of procedural rules should never be an obstacle in ascertaining who the voters chose to be their leaders. What is important is that the true will of the electorate be heard,” said Marcos.

In response to Marcos’ motion, Robredo’s lawyer Romulo Macalintal hit the former senator’s camp for rehashing accusations already addressed by the PET.

“Mr. Marcos would be the luckiest man in the world if he could reverse the unanimous decision by merely repeating the same issues and arguments already decided by the Presidential Electoral Tribunal,” said Macalintal.

(Beatrice Puente/PM)

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