Supreme Court gives OSG 10 days to comment on petition to abolish PET

BAGUIO CITY , Philippines  – The Supreme Court has given the Office of the Solicitor General (OSG) 10 days to comment on the petition of President Arroyo’s election lawyer to abolish the Presidential Electoral Tribunal (PET).

Lawyer Jose Midas Marquez, court administrator and SC spokesman, said the OSG was ordered to answer the argument of lawyer Romulo Macalintal that the SC, not the PET, should resolve protests in the presidential and vice presidential elections.

The SC will decide on Macalintal’s petition after the OSG shall have given its comment, Marquez said.

In his petition, Macalintal said the PET was illegally created and could be unnecessarily eating up government funds.

“The Supreme Court, sitting en banc, shall be the sole judge of all contests relating to the election, returns, and qualifications of the president or vice-president, and may promulgate its rules for the purpose,” Macalintal quoted the pertinent provision of the Constitution.

“The members of the Supreme Court and other courts established by law shall not be designated to any agency performing quasi-judicial or administrative functions,” he added, quoting another provision.

Macalintal said the SC made a mistake in creating the PET because the Constitution does not authorize the creation of a parallel tribunal operating on its own budget.

The PET gives SC justices dual positions in government, he added.

“Time is of the essence” that the SC resolve his petition immediately in view of the coming presidential elections, Macalintal said.    – Artemio Dumlao, Edu Punay