PET: Susan Roces can't substitute for FPJ
Public Information Office, Supreme Court
29 March 2005
The Presidential Electoral Tribunal today denied for lack of merit the motion of movie actress Susan Roces... to intervene and substitute for her late husband Fernando Poe Jr... in the latter's election protest against President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo. In a unanimous 14-page decision penned by Justice Leonardo A. Quisumbing, the Tribunal also resolved to dismiss PET Case No. 002, entitled Ronald Allan Poe a.k.a. Fernando Poe, jr. v. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, 'on the ground that no real party interest has come forward within the period allowed by law, to intervene in this case or be substituted for the deceased protestant,' taking note of FPJ's death. read the decision
FPJ's electoral protest 'died with him' -- Arroyo
Ma. Elisa P. Osorio, BusinessWorld Online
25 January 2005
President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo yesterday asked the Supreme Court, sitting as the Presidential Electoral Tribunal (PET), to dismiss the election protest questioning her victory in the last Presidential elections lodged by the late Fernando Poe Jr.... [S]he said the motion to intervene filed by the widow of Mr. Poe, Jesusa S. Poe, better known as Susan Roces, should likewise be dismissed for lack of legal standing.... 'She [Mrs. Roces] has no personal stake or interest in the outcome of the instant election protest,' Mrs. Arroyo said. read on
Susan Roces and the FPJ protest
Joaquin G. Bernas, SJ for TODAY newspaper
It is a firmly established doctrine that one who goes to court must have a personal interest in the outcome of the suit. The requirement of a personal stake in the outcome of a controversy is an aspect of the adversarial system which assures adverseness and sharpens the presentation of issues. What is Susan Roces's personal stake in the matter? read on
Susan Roces and the PET
Isagani Cruz for the Philippine Daily Inquirer
The widespread reports of election irregularities in favor of the incumbent president, and the rash of questionable appointments suspected as rewards for her supporters, have lent much credibility to the allegations in the protest filed by Poe before Ms Arroyo that he and not his rival is the rightful President of the Philippines. Susan Roces is lawfully barred from proving this before the PET but not before the sovereign people. read on
Petty PET
Dean O. de la Paz III, BusinessWorld Online
By delineating a substitute from the candidate petitioner by invoking the 'party of interest' rule, the PET avoids the conflicts that doing so might spawn. Unfortunately, from the perspective of our search for the truth via the PET, such is a cop-out.... The public does not want its highest tribunal to adjudicate as if it were some village council of elders deciding what is politically expedient at the expense of truth. It is a court that knows a petitioner is not the same as a candidate and there the twine may not meet. It knows that in an electoral protest, the 'party of interest' is not the candidate, but the voter. If anyone is cheated, it is the voter more than the candidate. read on
People want to know who their president is
Neal Cruz
for the Philippine Daily Inquirer and Asian Journal Online
With Fernando Poe Jr. dead, should his election protest against President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo be continued? There are legal experts who believe that the poll protest died with FPJ, but there are also those who say it can, and should be, continued.... Indeed, if I were President Arroyo and I know I did not cheat, I would like nothing better than to prove my detractors wrong by pushing for the recount... On the other hand, if I know I cheated, I will do everything in my power to stop the recount because I will be found out.... read on
Hiding the truth
Ninez Cacho-Olivares for The Daily Tribune Online
At the heart of the issue is not whether Susan Roces qualifies as a substitute protestant, but whether the opposition presidential candidate had been cheated out of his electoral victory. So [FPJ] died, but with a recount of the votes to know for certain whether he won the elections bar the rampant fraud, it makes sense for the PET to at least give due course to the poll protest, precisely to know whether the sovereign will of the people had been thwarted. read on
Moving finger
Conrado de Quiros for the Philippine Daily Inquirer
In a 14-page resolution, the Court ruled to throw out Roces' protest with these opening lines: 'The Moving Finger writes; and having writ,/ Moves on: nor all your Piety nor Wit/ Shall lure it back to cancel half a Line/ Nor all your tears wash out a Word of it.' The quote does not apply to Susan Roces, it applies to the Court's current patron (by now almost self-evident), Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo. The Moving Finger has spoken, and neither newly discovered piety nor wit may alter a word of it: God has numbered her government; she has been weighed and found wanting.... read on
Public favored continuing FPJ's election protest by a score of 47-39
Social Weather Stations
The March 2005 Social Weather Survey found 47% agreeing, 11% undecided, and 39% disagreeing with the statement, 'even if FPJ has already passed away, his protest about the vote count in the 2004 elections should still be continued in order to know who really won as President'.... go to survey
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