The Supreme Court (SC) sitting as the Presidential Electoral Tribunal (PET) on Tuesday denied the motion for reconsideration filed by Vice President Maria Leonor “Leni” Robredo for the election protest case filed against her by former Senator Ferdinand ‘Bongbong’ Marcos Jr.
SC spokesman Theodore Te announced the directive during summer session of the magistrates in Baguio City.
Te said the PET denied the petition filed by Robredo seeking reconsideration of its March 21 resolution and directed her to pay the cash deposit as stated in the said resolution regarding the election protest filed by Marcos.
”The PET denied protestee Robredo’s motion for reconsideration of the Resolution dated March 21, 2017 and directed protestee Robredo to pay the cash deposit as stated in the Resolution dated March 21, 2017 within a non-extendible period of five days from notice of Resolution,” Te said after Tuesday’s en banc.
In the same order, the high court deferred action on Marcos’ omnibus motion to dismiss the counter protest until Robredo complies with the directive to pay the deposit.
Last March 21, the PET ordered Marcos to pay PHP66,223,000 for the 132,446 precincts for his election protest against Robredo to proceed.
In its three-page resolution, PET ruled that Marcos should pay PHP36,023,000 on or before April 14 and PHP30-million on or before July 14 while Robredo is required to pay PHP8 million on or before April 14, and PHP7,439,000 on or before July 14.
Last April 17, Marcos went personally to the SC Clerk of Court to pay the first installment.
Robredo, on the other hand, was reportedly required to pay the cash deposit in PHP8 million last April 14, which happens to be Good Friday, and another PHP7,439,000 on or before July 14.
But Robredo reportedly failed to pay the partial PHP8 million and instead filed a manifestation last April 12.
Robredo won the 2016 vice presidential race with 14,418,817 votes or 263,473 more than Marcos who got 14,155,344 votes. (PNA)
