FORMER Senator Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr. will join his supporters in a vigil in front of the Supreme Court (SC) on Monday evening, hours before the preliminary conference on his election protest against Vice President Maria Leonor "Leni" Robredo.
Marcos previously said that he hopes that his petition would be resolved "early next year," citing that the rules of court requires the SC sitting as the Presidential Electoral Tribunal (PET) to act on protests swiftly.
"Well syempre mahabang panahon ang isang taon. Kung titignan natin sa mga rules lagi sinasabi dapat mabilis ang takbo ng mga protesta," Marcos said at a chance interview on the sidelines of the Philconsa meeting two weeks ago.
Marcos said he was informed by his legal counsels that procedural aspects of the case will be discussed during the preliminary conference.
Both Robredo and Marcos submitted before the tribunal their preliminary conference briefs on June 16, disclosing their evidence and bases for their respective protest and counter-protest filed before the high court.
"Magdedecide ang mga justices how they will proceed. Tapos merong tatlong naapoint na commissioner. Kung papano iorganize ang mga commissioner, if they will be hearing different grounds or they will be constituted as a panel, yung mga ganung question, yun ang inaasahan namin mangyari. Once that's decided we'll have a better idea kung paano na ang patakbo," he said.
The SC previously designated commissioners to help expedite Marcos' protest.
The chairperson of the panel is former Justice Jose Vitug, while the other two appointed as commissioners were Angelito Imperio and Irene Ragodon-Guevarra.
Marcos in his petition questioned the vote results in Camarines Sur, Iloilo and Negros Oriental, while Robredo in her counter-protest questioned results in Capiz, Sulu and North Cotabato.
Robredo won against Marcos by only 263,473 votes. (VoxPop Philippines)
