Tuesday, February 16, 2021

SC throws out Marcos protest. Inquirer Newsletter. February 17, 2021.

MONDAY RAID Policemen in full battle gear subdue and cuff a man at the University of San Carlos retreat house in Cebu City where they also arrested two volunteer teachers, five“lumad” teachers, and 19 Manobo minors who they claimed they were rescuing from communist “indoctrination and recruitment.” —NESTLE SEMILLA

Business

Ease restrictions to speed up recovery

Acting Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Karl Kendrick Chua on Monday night urged President Duterte to further ease quarantine restrictions nationwide to revive industries barred from operating and stop rising hunger among Filipinos. Chua said placing the entire country under the less stringent modified general community quarantine starting next month would allow a faster quarter-on-quarter recovery. —STORY BY BEN O. DE VERA

Regions

Quakes rock Taal; evacuation starts

Government volcanologists said Taal Volcano had not shown any sign of imminent eruption despite the earthquakes recorded there since Monday. They, however, reminded the public that the volcano in Batangas, which erupted in January 2020, was still under abnormal status. The Coast Guard on Tuesday started evacuating people who managed to return to the island declared as a danger zone. —STORY BY JHESSET O. ENANO AND DELFIN T. MALLARI JR.

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SC throws out Marcos protest vs Robredo

By Marlon Ramos

The Supreme Court on Tuesday unanimously upheld the 2016 election victory of Vice President Leni Robredo, tossing out allegations by former Sen. Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. that she won through poll fraud.

All the magistrates, convened as the Presidential Electoral Tribunal (PET), agreed to jettison Marcos’ electoral protest and, after nearly five years, legally sealed the electoral defeat of the son of dictator Ferdinand Marcos.

“Out of the 15 members of the tribunal who were present in today’s meeting, I was informed that seven members fully concurred in the dismissal [of the poll protest] while eight concurred with the result,” Brian Keith Hosaka, the high court’s spokesperson, said in an online press briefing.

“With regard to (the case) ... the 15 members of the Presidential Electoral Tribunal unanimously dismissed the entire electoral protest,” the court’s Public Information Office said in a brief statement.

Quoting from the PET ruling, it said the tribunal dismissed the election protest “for lack of merit” and “likewise dismissed” Robredo’s counterprotest.

‘Truth prevailed’

A lawyer for Marcos withheld comment until getting a copy of the PET decision.

But Robredo was triumphant, saying: “Today, truth prevailed! We upheld the true mandate of the 2016 elections.”

Speaking at a press briefing along with her legal team led by election lawyer Romulo Macalintal, she thanked the justices for their “fairness and resolve” and said she was “happy and grateful that this trust is affirmed.”

“Now that this issue has been settled, I am asking everyone, especially our supporters, to put this rancor behind us and let us move forward together,” Robredo said. “We are going through so much ... let us set aside our resentments, our misunderstanding, our bickering because so many of our people depend upon us.”

Hosaka could not immediately provide other details of the PET’s landmark decision, which was primarily anchored on Marcos’ claim of supposed massive cheating during the 2016 national elections that allegedly benefited Robredo.

‘In unison’

A court insider, who spoke with the Inquirer on condition of anonymity, said the magistrates were “in unison” that Marcos’ complaint should be scrapped since there was no “substantial recovery” in the manual recount of votes done in selected precincts that he himself had identified.

The source said the PET decision was authored by Associate Justice Marvic Leonen, the justice in charge of the poll protest.

“The PET deemed it appropriate to throw out Marcos’ electoral protest since there was no sufficient evidence supporting his allegation that the Vice President had cheated him. That’s the gist of the unanimous ruling,” the source said.

Court records show that the former senator had failed to prove his claim of electoral fraud during the manual revision and recount of ballots from certain polling precincts in the provinces of Iloilo, Camarines Sur and Negros Oriental. Robredo instead got an additional 15,000 votes, expanding her margin over Marcos by almost 280,000 votes.

Move to inhibit Leonen

Marcos also was unable to convince the PET to void the certificate of canvass that Congress used in proclaiming Robredo’s win, the same document used in declaring President Duterte’s victory in 2016.

In November last year, the PET thumbed down separate moves by Marcos and Solicitor General Jose Calida, a known supporter of the Marcoses, to inhibit Leonen for allegedly intentionally delaying the resolution of the election protest and for showing alleged bias against the former senator and his family.

In another move, Calida, whose mandate is to defend the state or government in legal controversies, also attempted to obtain copies of Leonen’s statements of assets, liabilities and net worth (SALNs) when the justice was a law professor at the University of the Philippines.

The Supreme Court refused to give him Leonen’s SALN, blocking his plan to oust the justice from the tribunal itself through a quo warranto case, the same legal maneuver that led to the ouster of Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno in 2018.

Preference for Marcos

Presidential spokesperson Harry Roque said Malacañang respected the PET’s decision, but it won’t change how President Duterte would treat the Vice President.

He said he believed Mr. Duterte’s preference for Marcos remained.

Chief presidential legal counsel Salvador Panelo urged Marcos’ supporters to accept the PET’s decision, saying “rule of law has prevailed.”

“Due process was evidently observed with both parties having been given the opportunity to present their respective cases,” Panelo said.

“We have to abide by the precepts of democracy,” he added.

‘Rare unanimity’

Senate Majority Leader Franklin Drilon welcomed the PET decision and also urged Marcos to respect its ruling.

“Let us begin the healing process now and focus on what is before us—COVID-19 pandemic,” said Drilon, who belongs to the opposition Liberal Party (LP) chaired by Robredo.

LP president Sen. Francis Pangilinan lamented that it took so long for the PET to reach its decision.

“We welcome the ruling although how we wish this had been resolved much sooner because it affirms what we have been saying from Day 1 which is that the allegations of cheating in the protest was baseless and unfounded,” he said on Twitter.

The Makati Business Club applauded the Supreme Court for its decision and for reaching it “with rare unanimity.”

“The decision removes a major source of unnecessary and damaging political uncertainty, confirms our electoral process, and strengthens the unity we need to win the war against COVID-19 and accelerate the jobs and economic recovery needed by our people,” the group said.

‘Big legal slap’

Albay Rep. Edcel Lagman said the unanimous decision sustained the people’s “electoral will” and that the dismissal of the former senator’s election protest “confirms the popular denial of mandate to a principal beneficiary of the brutal and corrupt Marcos martial law regime.”

Other lawmakers in the House of Representatives also welcomed the dismissal of the poll protest against the Vice President.

“The unanimity of the decision speaks volumes and should put to rest any doubts as regards her victory in the May 2016 elections,” said Ako Bicol Rep. Alfredo Garbin Jr., chair of the House committee on constitutional amendments.

Bayan Muna Rep. Carlos Isagani Zarate said the PET ruling was a “long-awaited, much-welcome decision.”

It was also “a big legal slap” on Calida, who intervened in a clearly private case, he said. —WITH REPORTS FROM KRIXIA SUBINGSUBING, LEILA B. SALAVERRIA, ROY STEPHEN C. CANIVEL AND JULIE M. AURELIO

Editorial

So where is the vaccine?

In "The State of Southeast Asia 2021" online poll taken by the Asean Studies Centre in Singapore from Nov. 18, 2020, to Jan. 10, 2021, Vietnam led citizen satisfaction with 96.6 percent, followed by Brunei with 93.9 percent, and Singapore with 92.4 percent. Among Filipinos, 17.9 percent "strongly disapproved," and 35.8 percent "disapproved" of their government’s response; only 6 percent "strongly approved," and 19.4 percent "approved" of it.

The Department of Health sensibly said it recognized "the sentiments expressed... and values the voice of the Filipinos." It also pointed out that the government’s response to the pandemic "is only as good as the institutions [that] implement it, and the people who comply with it..." Quite right. Per the survey results, Filipinos deemed COVID-19 their "most pressing concern," and 72.2 percent said Mr. Duterte’s administration must "encourage more scientists and medical doctors to contribute to public policy discussions and heed their advice." For a year now, retired generals have been pushing the most important levers in the government’s response. While doubtless aware of the pandemic’s disastrous effects, they must also know that the public they serve expects their life-and-death decisions to be grounded in science, and common sense. Or, simply, compassion for the now doubly impoverished so as not to deepen the rift between privileged and powerless.

Read full story: opinion.inquirer.net