MANILA, Philippines — The Supreme Court sitting as Presidential Electoral Tribunal (PET) has deferred anew its action on the results of the examination of ballots from three pilot provinces cited by former senator Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. in his electoral protest against Vice President Maria Leonor “Leni” Robredo.
A high court source said the case is reset to October 15.
The result of the examination of ballots is contained in the report of Associate Justice Alfredo Benjamin Caguioa, the justice in charge of the case.
Caguioa’s report has been submitted to the Supreme Court justices since September 9 for study.
Originally, deliberation was scheduled on October 1 but it was moved to October 8. Now, it’s been moved to another week.
In his electoral protest, Marcos said he can prove that irregularities marred the conduct of the 2016 elections. He chose the three pilot provinces – Camarines Sur, Iloilo, and Negros Oriental – for the preliminary examination.
It is now up for PET to decide, based on Caguioa’s report on the pilot provinces, whether to proceed in the vote revision on 39,221 clustered precincts covering 27 provinces and cities identified in Marcos’ election protest.