By Rey Panaligan

“There is no decision yet on the 2016 vice-presidential election protest,” Chief Justice Lucas P. Bersamin said on Thursday.

In an interview after his speech before the National Summit on Dangerous Drugs Law at the Manila Hotel, Bersamin said.

“There is no definite voting yet or anything that happened in that particular case,” referring to the protest filed by former Sen. Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. against Vice-President Ma. Leonor “Leni” Robredo.

Bersamin was asked to comment on a published report that the Presidential Electoral Tribunal (PET), composed of all justices of the Supreme Court (SC), has already voted 8-6 in favor of Marcos.

“I cannot confirm nor deny that because he (referring to the author of a published report) must know more than I do and that’s the bad part about it. There is no definite voting yet or anything that happened in that particular case,” he stressed.

Earlier, a reliable source said that the PET will deliberate on October 8 on the report submitted by justice-in charge, SC Associate Justice Alfredo Benjamin Caguioa.

Bersamin said: “You know when a case is on the agenda it does not necessarily mean that it will lead to a resolution. There may be other items to be considered under that case.”

Marcos’s election protest against Robredo was filed in 2016 and identified three provinces where, he claimed, there were rampant irregularities.

Acting on the protest, the PET started the recount and revision of ballots in the provinces of Iloilo, Negros Oriental, and Camarines Sur. The process was finished last year.

Marcos’ protest covered election returns in 27 provinces and cities.

The PET had said that the results of the recount and revision of ballot in the three pilot provinces would determine if the same process would be done in the remaining areas identified in Marcos’ protest.

Robredo was declared winner in the 2016 election with 14,418,817 votes as against Marcos’ 14,155,344 votes.

On the basis of the results, Robredo was proclaimed and has assumed the post of Vice President.

Earlier, Bersamin said the PET is handling the election protest in the 2016 vice presidential election “with sufficient speed.”

“I know the impatience of the public about this case of the Vice President being protested but we should also be careful of what we do here because the credibility of our processes as well as the political system is at stake so we are doing it slowly but we are doing it with sufficient speed,” he said.

“There is a very high public interest (in the protest) because it involves the stability of the government,” he stressed.