Palace: Roxas can still join Cabinet next year despite poll case

Former Senator and defeated vice presidential candidate Manuel "Mar" Roxas II can still be appointed to a Cabinet post next year even though he filed an electoral protest against Vice President Jejomar Binay, Malacanang said Friday. In a press briefing, presidential spokesman Edwin Lacierda said the electoral protest of Roxas — President Benigno "Noynoy" Aquino III's running mate in the May 10 elections — legally cannot prevent the president from appointing Roxas to a Cabinet post when the one-year ban on appointing defeated candidates lapses. "After the passing of that one year, he may be appointed to a Cabinet post. It has no bearing on the election protest," said Lacierda. Aquino has earlier revealed that Roxas, who at first was planning to run for president but eventually gave way to Aquino, will be getting a post in his Cabinet after the one-year ban. Lacierda said Aquino supports his running mate's electoral protest, and does not think of it as a "lost cause." "We respect the right of Senator Roxas to file an electoral protest. It’s his discretion to do so," he said. In the electoral protest that Roxas's lawyers filed earlier before the Presidential Electoral Tribunal (PET) composed of Supreme Court justices, Roxas sought a full accounting and count of the three million null votes and other votes not counted during the national canvassing, among others. (See: Roxas files electoral protest against Vice President Binay) He also asked for a thorough review of the automated elections system in view of numerous technical glitches encountered before, during and after the May 10 national polls. Roxas led pre-election opinion polls until Binay caught him by surprise a few weeks before election day. Binay won over Roxas by around 700,000 votes. (See: How Binay became the surprise of the 2010 elections) —JV, GMANews.TV