Majority of Supreme Court (SC) justices, sitting as Presidential Electoral Tribunal (PET), are poised to junk the draft ruling of Associate Justice Benjamin Caguioa dismissing the election protest filed by former senator Ferdinand Marcos Jr. against Vice President Maria Leonor Robredo.
Unimpeachable sources said nine to 11 out of the 14 justices are expected to vote against the Caguioa draft ruling. There are only 14 justices because Associate Justice Francis Jardeleza retired last month. They added that two justices — Carpio and Associate Justice Mario Victor Leonen — were inclined to side with Caguioa.
The sources also said “an overwhelming majority” of the justices wants the case to proceed to the next level — the reception of evidence to determine if there was electoral fraud in the vice- presidential contest.
If most of the Supreme Court justices will vote against the Caguioa draft, a source said the next step would be the reception of evidence for the annulment of election results in Basilan, Sulu and Lanao del Sur.
This is my take: For everybody’s information, Mr. Canlas’ exclusive stories from the Supreme Court have never been denied since he covered it. A not so recent example is the ouster of then Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno before the actual vote. And being a former newspaperman myself, I know that he would not dare come out with a story as sensitive as this if he did not have rock solid proof and information.
I will come out with a blog or a video of my own comments once the official announcement is out later in the day.
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