The Supreme Court, sitting as Presidential Electoral Tribunal, yesterday gave Vice President Maria Leonor “Leni” Robredo five days to pay P8mn if she wants to pursue the counter-poll protest that she filed against former senator Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr.
Marcos, who questioned Robredo’s victory in the vice presidential election last year, paid his poll protest fee of P36mn on April 17. Robredo’s lawyer, Romulo Macalintal, said the vice president will follow the high court’s order.
“We respect the decision of PET and would like to reiterate
Vice President Leni Robredo’s willingness to comply with her obligation to pay the P8mn for her counter protest,” Macalintal said in a statement. The tribunal required Robredo to pay P15.4mn.
She will have to settle the remaining P7.4mn on a later date.Marcos will also have to pay the remaining balance of P30mn to cover expenses for the counting of votes in 39,221 clustered precincts.
Robredo has earlier asked the high court to allow her to defer her payment until after the tribunal has acted on her motion for reconsideration on the court’s ruling finding Marcos’ poll protest sufficient in form and substance.
Robredo beat Marcos by 263,473 votes in the May 2016 polls. of 132,446 precincts.
Leni Robredo
