Robredo still VP as upcoming PET ruling will only tackle whether to continue poll protest

MANILA, Philippines — Vice President Leni Robredo would remain in her post whatever the Presidential Electoral Tribunal's decision would be as the tribunal would only rule on whether the poll protest of defeated candidate Bongbong Marcos' would continue, her camp said.

The vice president's camp was referring to the next round of deliberations scheduled for Tuesday, October 8.

In a statement, Romulo Macalintal, who serves as the lead counsel of the vice president, said that the pending outcome "will only resolve whether or not the election protest of Marcos will continue after the PET has recounted the ballots from the three pilot provinces."

Amid reports that the Supreme Court voted 8-6 in favor of proceeding with the electoral protest, Chief Justice Bersamin told reporters on October 3 that "[t]here is no definite voting yet or anything that happened in that particular case.”

The former senator suffered a narrow loss to the current vice president with a deficit of only 263,473 votes, a 0.64% difference. He immediately claimed that he was cheated in the elections and filed an electoral protest to contest the miniscule gap.

Rule 65 of the Rules of the Presidential Electoral Tribunal states that the tribunal may decide to dismiss the protest or proceed to further recount the electoral results after examining the pilot provinces.

Robredo said that the case was "a test of the entire electoral process [and] of the justice system."

Bongbong is the son of late strongman Ferdinand Marcos and graft convict Imelda Marcos, whose dictatorial reign was marked by wanton killings, human rights violations and corruption. According to Amnesty International estimates, about 7,000 were imprisoned and 34,000 killed during the Martial Law era.

The country was left with a $26 billion debt in the years after Marcos' ouster from office, the effects of which still continue to be felt today. A report by the UP School of Economics published in May of 1986 said, “The foreign debt incurred by the old regime is one of the biggest obstacles to Philippine economic recovery."

"If PET rules that Marcos was unable to gain any substantial recovery from the recount of ballots from his three pilot provinces, then his protest will be dismissed and VP Leni’s victory will be affirmed," Macalintal said.