PET finds Binay counter-protest sufficient in form, substance

The Presidential Electoral Tribunal (PET) has found merit in Vice President Jejomar Binay's answer to the election protest filed against him by former rival Manuel Roxas II, Supreme Court administration and spokesman Jose Midas Marquez said Tuesday. As a result, Chief Justice Renato Corona, who is also PET's ex-officio chairman, ordered the tribunal's Clerk of Court to order Roxas to file his comment 10 days after receiving the tribunal's notice. "The tribunal has found [Binay's] counter-protest sufficient in form and substance, that is why an answer is being required to be filed again within 10 days from notice," Marquez said at a news briefing in Manila. The Supreme Court's full-member bench composes PET, which is tasked to resolve election contests relating only to the president and vice president. Binay, through his lawyers, filed his counter-protest against Roxas before the tribunal last Monday. The vice president asked the PET to junk Roxas' poll protest against him, saying it lacked legal basis and was the defeated vice presidential bet's "face-saving measure." (See: VP Binay asks PET to junk Roxas poll protest) Binay said Roxas' protest failed to specify the precincts where the former senator was supposedly cheated of victory. Citing the Supreme Court's 1997 ruling on the Pena vs. House of Representatives Electoral Tribunal case, Binay's lawyer Sandra Coronel said the poll protest should be dismissed because of such failure. "Protestee [Binay] respectfully prays of this honorable tribunal that a preliminary hearing be held on [Binay's] affirmative defenses and thereafter judgment be rendered dismissing the protest," read a portion of Binay's 76-page counter-protest. Roxas is seeking to nullify Binay's proclamation as vice president last June 9. In his election protest, Roxas asked the tribunal to account for three million null votes and other votes that were not counted during the national canvassing after the May 10 automated elections. He also asked for a thorough review of the automated elections system in light of the technical glitches encountered before, during, and after the elections. — RSJ/KBK, GMANews.TV