PET: 'Deeply disturbing' for Calida to join Marcos' 'mistaken' view in VP protest

The Supreme Court, sitting as the Presidential Electoral Tribunal (PET), said it was "deeply disturbing" that Solicitor General Jose Calida shared former senator Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos' "mistaken" view of its processes in connection with the vice presidential election protest.

In a newly-released copy of its November 17 resolution, the PET said Marcos and Calida "misconstrue" the meaning of bias when they accused Associate Justice Marvic Leonen of partiality in Marcos' case against Vice President Leni Robredo.

"Bias means a preconceived notion, which may be favorable or unfavorable to a party. Bias does not pertain to an instance when this Tribunal does not rule however you wish it to," the PET said.

Last November, the tribunal denied Marcos and Calida's motions seeking Leonen's inhibition from the four-year-old protest.

In separate motions containing similar arguments and filed within hours of each other, they cited past SC decisions in claiming that Leonen was biased against the Marcos family. They also said the justice has delayed the resolution of the protest.

But the PET stressed it is a collegial body, its decisions rendered by a majority vote of its members and not by a single justice.

"Lawyers for litigants at the highest level of our judicial system are expected to have a better knowledge of our workings. They do a disservice to their clients when they mislead them and the public that the Supreme Court is less than a collegial body," the court said.

"That the protestant's mistaken view of this court is joined by no less than the Solicitor General is deeply disturbing," it added.

The PET also questioned Calida's legal standing to join the case, which it said is between two private parties — Marcos and Robredo — and does not involve the government.

"The standing asserted by the Solicitor General should be reviewed. 'People's Tribune' is not to be hoisted wantonly in big ticket cases involving private parties," the tribunal said.

Returning Calida's words to him, the PET told the solicitor general to "conduct a careful self-examination" and "exercise his discretion in a way that the people's faith in the courts of justice is not impaired."

"Lamenting a decision he posits as unfavorable to a particular family and lackadaisically invoking People's Tribune are not hallmarks of a high-ranking government official on whom public trust is reposed," it said.

The PET earlier said it would issue a show cause order against Calida, but it said in the resolution that Leonen urged his colleagues to withdraw the order.

"Forgiveness is often the more decent consequence to another's misunderstanding. It will certainly not diminish us," Leonen said in a letter to his fellow justices.

The PET reminded the parties, their lawyers, and Calida to "attend to their cases with the objectivity and dignity demanded by our profession and keep their passions and excitement in check."

The resolution was signed by all sitting justices except Justices Rosmari Carandang and Amy Lazaro-Javier, who were on wellness leave at the time.—AOL, GMA News