Noli hits Loren on poll protest

Vice President Noli de Castro expressed disappointment over the announcement made by Sen. Loren Legarda that she is bringing her losing electoral case to the public.

De Castro said Legarda should respect the decision of the Supreme Court which had dismissed her electoral protest with finality.

“It is about time to show statesmanship here as elected officials of the land. We should all uphold the rule of law and establish institutions. We need to impart a lesson to the people that we need to yield to duly constituted authorities,” De Castro said.

Legarda announced that she will bring her case before the media to prove her allegations that she was cheated in the vice presidential race in the May 2004 elections.

Legarda filed the protest before the SC, acting as the Presidential Electoral Tribunal, alleging the administration had cheated in the 2004 elections.

Legarda was the running mate of the late actor Fernando Poe Jr., who died while a separate protest against President Arroyo was pending in the SC.

Both Poe and Legarda respectively lost their bids to Mrs. Arroyo and De Castro.

De Castro, for his part, urged Legarda to move on and focus on her job as legislator.

He welcomed the dismissal of Legarda’s protest against him, in which the high court threw out the motion for reconsideration filed by the senator last Jan. 18.

In a two-page resolution released on Tuesday, the PET unanimously resolved to deny with finality Legarda’s protest since no substantial arguments were presented to warrant a reversal of the earlier resolution.     – Pia Lee-Brago