(Eagle News) — Vice President Leni Robredo has asked the Supreme Court, sitting as the Presidential Electoral Tribunal, to junk former Senator Ferdinand Marcos’ motion that seeks the dismissal of her counterprotest in connection with the 2016 elections.
In her motion dated May 5, Robredo’s camp said her compliance to the PET’s order that she pay the first tranche of a protest fee of P15.44 million has rendered Marcos’ motion moot.
The former senator had sought the help of the tribunal and filed the motion to dismiss Robredo’s counterprotest after she failed to pay the initial installment of P8 million on the deadline set by the PET—April 14.
Instead of paying, she filed a motion for reconsideration of the PET’s order to pay on April 12.
The PET dismissed the MR though, and ordered her again to pay the first tranche within five days upon receipt of the tribunal’s latest order.
Robredo made the payment on May 2.
“Marcos conveniently omitted to say that the dismissal of a protest or counter protest, as the case may be, due to the non-payment of cash deposit is discretionary and not mandatory,” Robredo said in her May 5 motion.
She added that Rule 34 of the PET, “as invoked by protestant Marcos, provides that the tribunal may dismiss the protest or counter protest.”
“The use of the word ‘may’ operates to the discretion of the Honorable Tribunal. Hence, the non-payment of the cash deposit does not result at all to the dismissal of the counter protest,” she added.
The PET ordered Marcos and Robredo to raise a total of P81.46 million for their electoral protest and counterprotest to move forward.
Marcos, who lost to her by a little over 200,000 votes, paid the first tranche –P36 million–of the required P66 million on April 17.
The deadline for the payment of the second installment is on July 14.