MANILA, Philippines – The camp of Vice President Leni Robredo asked the Supreme Court (SC), sitting as the Presidential Electoral Tribunal (PET), to remove from its records the pleading filed by former senator Ferdinand Marcos Jr against her counter-protest.

“It is respectfully prayed to the Honorable Tribunal that the Motion to Dismiss the Counter-Protest be treated as a sham pleading and stricken off the records, or be denied,” stated Robredo’s lawyers in their comment filed before the PET last Friday, May 5.

Robredo’s lawyers Romulo Macalintal and Bernadette Sardillo said in their comment and opposition that the arguments raised by Marcos’ lawyer George Garcia were misleading.

Last April 20, the Marcos camp asked the PET to dismiss Robredo’s counter-protest because she initially failed to pay the P8-million service fee required of her on April 14. (READ: Marcos pays P36M for first installment of recount fee) 

In their motion, Garcia cited the previous rulings of the SC on the cases of Perla Garcia versus the House of Representatives Electoral Tribunal and Angping and Bienvenido William Lloren versus the Commission on Elections and Pua.

Robredo’s camp pointed out that the issue in the Garcia case was the failure to pay the cash deposits and not the service fees. The Lloren case also did not pertain to service fees but rather the payment of appeal fees.

“It is unfortunate that protestant Marcos has resorted to misleading the Honorable Tribunal by using the SC decision on Lloren’s case to pursue his intention… For the foregoing reasons, the Motion to Dismiss the Counter-Protest should be stricken off the records of this case,” said the Vice President’s camp.

They also stressed that Marcos’ motion is moot and academic since Robredo already settled the amount last Tuesday, May 2.

The PET has scheduled the preliminary conference for the election case on June 21. – Rappler.com