By Rizal Obanil

Supreme Court (SC) spokesperson, lawyer Brian Keith Hosaka clarified two important points on the order issued by the Presidential Electoral Tribunal (PET) on the electoral protest filed by former Senator Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr.

In an interview over radio DZMM hosted by Ted Failon, Hosaka said: “Yung nilabas lang po natin kahapon ay dalawang punto lang para ma-simplify po natin yung inutos ng Korte Suprema. No. 1 po e…sabi po ng Tribunal bigyan natin ng kopya ng report ng revision at recount nung tatlong pilot provinces yung mga party. At pagkatapos po nyan hihingan po natin sila na magkomento sila sa mga report na yon. At pangalawa po it concerns yung sabi nila with respect to the annulment of elections dun sa tatlong probinsiya naman po. Dun sa Lanao del Sur, Basilan at Maguindanao. Hinihingan rin ho sila ng komento o memoranda tungkol sa issues dito po sa pangatlong cause of action na petition po ni Marcos laban kay Robredo.”

(There were two points in the SC order on Tuesday that we can simplify. No. 1, the Tribunal ordered that the two parties be given copies of the report on the revision and recount on the three pilot provinces. After that, the parties were asked to submit their comments on the said report. The second point concerns the annulment of elections on the three provinces: Lanao del Sur, Basilan and Maguindanao. They are also being asked to file a comment or memoranda on the third cause of action on Marcos’ petition against Robredo.)

When asked to clarify what the order was all about, the SC spokesperson said: “Ang sinundan po natin dito yung rules ng Presidential Electoral Tribunal, specifically yung rule 65. Now, binigyan po ng pagkakataon yung petitioner natin si former Senator Bongbong Marcos na pumili ng tatlong probinsya na magpoprove ng kanyang kaso ‘no. Ang pinili nga nya po yung tatlong probinsiya ng…Negros Oriental, Iloilo atsaka CamSur. Ngayon, yan po yung report na ilalabas at ibibigay ng Tribunal dun sa party para magkomento sila. Lumalabas po dito na nagiging transparent po ang Tribunal kasi binibigyan po ng kopya yung mga parties and at the same time makita po nila kung ano yung resulta and from then on they will file their comment as ordered by the Tribunal.”

(What we followed here was the PET rules, specifically rule 65. The petitioner who is former Senator Bongbong Marcos was given a chance to choose 3 provinces to prove his case. He chose Negros Oriental, Iloilo and Camsur. The results on these provinces are what the Tribunal divulged in the report for the parties to comment. This shows that the Tribunal is being transparent because they gave the parties copies of the report and they can see the results.)

Hosaka clarified that the results of the recount on the pilot provinces have not been made public as the PET has yet to decide when to actually release the results to the public.

“It will take probably a couple of days for the Tribunal to prepare everything and send out the notices together with the report as ordered by the Tribunal to the party.”

He said that the results were given only to the parties because that was the actual order.

“Ang initial order po ng Tribunal is to the parties, because they’re the proper parties to give this report to (The initial order was to give copies to the parties…),” he said.

“Pinapakomento rin sila, yung mga party, tungkol dun sa pangatlong cause of action which is the annulment of election for the vice-presidential position in the provinces of Lanao del Sur, Basilan and Maguindanao. Kasi po tatlo po yung causes of action dyan. Yung una po nadismiss na yan e, yung annulment of proclamation. Ang pinaguusapan na lang po natin e yung No. 2 and No. 3,” he added.

(They, the two parties, are being ordered to comment on the third cause of action which is the annulment of election for the vice-presidential position…. There are three causes of action. The first one has already been dissolved which was the annulment of proclamation. What is now being discussed is No. 2 and 3.)

Hosaka also confirmed that the counter-protest filed by Robredo which involves around 8,000 precincts has not been acted upon by the PET yet.