PET orders Loren to pay P1.8 M

The Supreme Court has ordered Sen. Loren Legarda to pay P1.871 million for the return of election paraphernalia used in the poll protest she filed against Vice President Noli de Castro during the May 2004 elections.

Lawyer Jose Midas Marquez said the SC, sitting as the Presidential Electoral Tribunal (PET) where Legarda filed her protest, ordered her to pay the amount as additional deposit to cover expenses for the return of ballot boxes and other election materials to Cebu and Pampanga.

Marquez explained that the PET dismissed the second aspect of the electoral protest last June 6 due to Legarda’s failure to pay P3 million in bonds.

“So after the second aspect of the case was dismissed, the ballot boxes, list of voters and other election paraphernalia would be returned to Cebu and Pampanga where the materials came from,” Marquez, SC spokesman, said.

Legarda said her election lawyer Sixto Brillantes has yet to receive a copy of the PET order.

Legarda had demanded a recount in Cebu and Pampanga to prove that she won in the 2004 vice presidential race.

After the elections that year, Legarda filed the protest before the High Tribunal over alleged irregularities in the poll results that paved the way for De Castro’s victory. – James Mananghaya, Christina Mendez