VP DE CASTRO WELCOMES DEVELOPMENTS IN PROTEST CASE
11
October 2005
The
Presidential Electoral Tribunal recently issued a Resolution directing
the parties to proceed with the protest on October 18, 2005.
The PET declared that the hearing on
October 18 would be for the correction of manifest errors in the
election returns for the provinces of Lanao del Norte, Lanao del Sur
and Surigao del Sur.
The
Vice-President sees this Resolution as a welcome development, as he
remains confident that he will still emerge as the true winner in the
last elections after the votes have been retabulated and recanvassed.
While he and his lawyers initially
questioned the validity of the Protest in form and in substance, the
Vice President believes that the Protest will eventually lead to the
same result in the end: the protest will be revealed as unsubstantiated
and baseless. The Vice-President said, “it is to
the best interest of the people for the protest to be resolved at the
soonest time possible. Therefore, I will support
any action on the part of the Tribunal that would expedite the
conclusion of the protest.”
At
this point, the Vice President and his lawyers are ready to proceed
with the retabulation and the correction of manifest errors in the ER’s
for the provinces of Lanao del Norte, Lanao del Sur and Surigao del Sur
the moment the PET comes up with the guidelines and rules of procedure
for the retabulation. As pointed out by Atty.
Armando Marcelo of the AMPGP Law Offices, counsel for the
Vice-President, the PET has yet to come out with the said guidelines
and rules of procedure, therefore there is as of yet no actual
procedure to be followed on October 18.
The
Vice President maintained that he has full trust and confidence in the
proceedings of the Presidential Electoral Tribunal, and he believes
that the Tribunal will ensure that the rule of law and proper procedure
is observed in order to arrive at a just and fair result.
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