Bongbong’s bid to recuse Caguioa in protest vs. Leni given no serious thought, junked

The Supreme Court, sitting as the Presidential Electoral Tribunal (PET), has denied former senator Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr.'s motion asking Associate Justice Alfredo Benjamin Caguioa to recuse  from his poll protest case.

The tribunal rejected the motion -- which it called a "mere scrap of paper" --  for "utter lack of merit" and "sternly warned" Marcos and his lawyers that "any unfounded and inappropriate accusation made in the future will be dealt with more severely."

The PET said Caguioa "has been nothing but impartial" in his conduct of matters involved in Marcos' protest against Vice President Leni Robredo, and explained that all decisions have been reached through a majority vote of the Court en banc.

"Amid baseless allegations of delay, the Tribunal has given these no serious consideration as it knows that the proceedings in the Protest have, in fact, been pushed forward with utmost dispatch despite numerous pending incidents arising from it," the tribunal said in an August 28 resolution.

Marcos had asked Caguioa to recuse himself from the pending election protest case, citing the justice's "fraternal relations" with his former classmate, ex-president Benigno Aquino III.

The defeated vice presidential candidate also argued that Caguioa's wife is an "ardent supporter" of Robredo.

However, the SC found Marcos' allegations "empty," imputations that "cannot form basis for voluntary inhibition under the ISRC (Internal Rules of the Supreme Court)."

That Aquino appointed Caguioa to the SC and that the two belonged to the same political party does "not automatically mean" that the latter is biased in favor of Robredo and against Marcos, the PET said.

"Parenthetically, it may be worthy to note that Justice Caguioa and protestant's spouse, Atty. Liza Araneta-Marcos, were classmates in Ateneo Law School. Hence, protestant's insistence on equating bias on the mere fact that Justice Caguioa and President Aquino were classmates holds no water," it said.

"Protestant's narration may be good reading as a conspiracy theory and may even be fodder for discourse in social media, but his theories when used as a ground to request for an inhibition of a Member of this Tribunal, must transcend fiction."

Prior to Marcos' motion, Caguioa had asked his colleagues in the Court to re-assign the management of the Marcos-Robredo poll protest case. His request was denied unanimously. —NB, GMA News