PRECAUTIONARY PROTECTION ORDER

DEFINITION

Precautionary Protection Order:

Steps or measures to safeguard the integrity of all the ballot boxes and their contents, lists
of voters with voting records, books of voters, and other documents or paraphernalia used
in the election, as well as data storage devices containing electronic data evidencing the
conduct and the results of elections in the contested precincts.
Note: This definition is based on the Rules mentioned below.

LEGAL BASIS

A.M. No. 10-4-29-SC

THE 2010 RULES OF THE PRESIENTIAL ELECTORAL TRIBUNAL

Rule 36. Issuance of precautionary order. - Where the allegations in a protest so

warrant, the Tribunal shall, simultaneous with the issuance of summons, order the
municipal treasurer and election officer, and the responsible personnel and
custodian to take immediate steps or measures to safeguard the integrity of all the
ballot boxes and their contents, lists of voters with voting records, books of voters,
and other documents or paraphernalia used in the election, as well as data storage
devices containing electronic data evidencing the conduct and the results of
elections in the contested precincts.
COMELEC RULES OF PROCEDURE ON DISPUTES IN AN AUTOMATED
ELECTION SYSTEM IN CONNECTION WITH THE MAY 10, 2010 ELECTIONS
Resolution No. 8804
Promulgation: 22 March 2010
Rule 12 - Production and Custody of Ballot Boxes, Election Documents, Data Storage
Devices, and Machines Used in the Elections.

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Section 1. Issuance of precautionary protection order. - Where the allegations in a
protest so warrant, and simultaneously with the issuance of summons, the Commission
shall order the municipal treasurer and election officer, and the responsible personnel and
custodian to take immediate steps or measures to safeguard the integrity of all the ballot
boxes, lists of voters with voting records, books of voters and other documents or
paraphernalia used in the election, as well as data storage devices containing electronic
data evidencing the conduct and the results of elections in the contested precincts.
A.M. No. 10-4-1-SC
2010 RULES OF PROCEDURE IN ELECTION CONTEST BEFORE THE COURTS
INVOLVING ELECTING MUNICIPAL AND BARANGAY OFFICIALS:
RULE 8 - PRODUCTION AND CUSTODY OF BALLOT BOXES AND ELECTION
DOCUMENTS
SECTION 1. Issuance of precautionary protection order. Where the allegations in a
protest so warrant, and simultaneously with the issuance of summons, the court shall
order the municipal treasurer and election officer concerned to take immediate steps or
measures to safeguard the integrity of all the ballot boxes, lists of voters with voting
records, books of voters and other documents or paraphernalia used in the election.
OMNIBUS ELECTION CODE OF THE PHILIPPINES
Sec. 219. Preservation of the ballot boxes, their keys and disposition of their contents. (a) The provincial election supervisor, the provincial treasurer and the provincial fiscal
shall keep the envelope containing the keys in their possession intact during the period of
three months following the election. Upon the lapse of this period, unless the
Commission has ordered otherwise, the provincial election supervisor and the provincial
fiscal shall deliver to the provincial treasurer the envelope containing the keys under their
custody.
xxxx
(c) In case of calamity or fortuitous event such as fire, flood, storm, or other similar
calamities which may actually cause damage to the ballot boxes and/or their contents, the
Commission may authorize the opening of said ballot boxes to salvage the ballots and
other contents by placing them in other ballot boxes, taking such other precautionary
measures as may be necessary to preserve such documents.
PRESERVATION OF THE BOOK OF VOTERS AND OTHER ELECTION
DOCUMENTS RELATIVE TO THE PRECAUTIONARY PROTECTION ORDER
ISSUED IN PET CASE NO. 004 ENTITLED "MANUEL A. ROXAS VERSUS JEJOMAR

PRECAUTIONARY PROTECTION ORDER

C. BINAY" IN CONNECTION TO THE MAY 9, 2016 NATIONAL, LOCAL AND ARMM
ELECTIONS
Resolution No. 10076
Promulgation: 10 March 2016
xxx
WHEREAS, in Resolution No. 9046 dated on September 30, 2010, the Commission En
Banc resolved to preserve the Book of Voters and other Election Documents used in the
May 10, 2010 National and Local Elections relative to the Precautionary Protection Order
(PPO) dated August 31, 2010 issued by the Presidential Electoral Tribunal (PET) Case
No. 004 entitled "Manuel A. Roxas vs. Jejomar C. Binay".

GROUNDS/REQUISITES

1. Allegations in the protest so warrant

2. Simultaneous with the issuance of summons
3. There danger as to the integrity of the ballot
COVERAGE/SCOPE

1. Presidential Electoral Tribunal

2. Courts
3. Commission on Elections
RECENT JURISPRUDENCE

ESTEVES vs. SARMIENTO, G.R. No. 182374, November 11, 2008

The RTC then issued a precautionary protection order directing the Municipal Treasurer
and Election Officer of Casiguran to take immediate steps to safeguard the integrity of all
the ballot boxes, lists of voters and other paraphernalia used in the elections and
thereafter directed that all the election paraphernalia, including the ballot boxes and lists
of voters, subject of the protest be brought before the court.

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Note: The SC did not tackle the issue regarding precautionary protection order. It merely focused
on the exhaustion of the administrative remedies.
ROXAS vs. BINAY (PET Case No. 004), PET Resolution, August 31, 2010
xx xx xx (B) GRANT the separate motions of the protestant and protestee for a
Precautionary Protection Order pursuant to Rule 36 of the 2010 Rules of the Presidential
Electoral Tribunal. NOW, THEREFORE, pursuant to rule 36 of the 2010 Rules of the
Presidential Electoral Tribunal, You, the Commission on Elections, your agents,
representatives, or persons acting in your place or stead, including the municipal
treasurers, elections officers, and the responsible personnel and custodians, are hereby
DIRECTED to PRESERVE and SAFEGUARD the integrity of the ballot boxes, their
contents and keys, list of voters with voting records, books of voters and other documents
and paraphernalia used in the May 2010 elections for the position of Vice-President of the
Republic of the Philippines, as well as the data storage devices containing the electronic
data evidencing the results of elections in the contested 76,340 clustered precincts
subject of the Protest and Counter-Protest, effective immediately and continuing until
further orders from the Tribunal. GIVEN by the authority of the Honorable Renato C.
Corona, Chairperson of the Presidential Electoral Tribunal and Chief Justice of the
Supreme Court of the Philippines, this 31st day of August 2010
Note: This is a mere resolution. PET Case No. 004 was never published nor promulgated since
the case only reached the preliminary stages. The last action on this case was on 2013.
CAPALLA vs. COMELEC, G.R. No. 201112, June 13, 2012
Roxas v. Binay, docketed as PET Case No. 004, is a Protest filed under Rule 15 of the
2010 Rules of the Presidential Electoral Tribunal. Protestant Manuel A. Roxas seeks the
annulment of the proclamation of protestee Jejomar C. Binay as the duly elected VicePresident of the Republic of the Philippines after the 10 May 2010 synchronized elections
due to "fraud, anomalies, irregularities and statistical improbabilities in certain clustered
precincts," among other grounds. The fraud, anomalies and irregularities were alleged to
be due to the "complete and utter disregard by COMELEC and Smartmatic-TIM of the
mandated minimum system capabilities for an automated election system under the AES
Law." It is alleged that the two were "complicit in disabling or entirely removing crucial
safeguards that should have prevented the occurrence of system-wide electoral fraud in
the Vice-Presidential Contest. Among the mandatory requirements and security
safeguards allegedly disregarded or deactivated were the voter verified paper trail, the
digital signatures, the ultraviolet (UV) verification capability, the source code review and
the configuration of the compact flash (CF) cards in a way that made them unable to read
votes for the protestant.
Note: This is found in the footnote of the concurring opinion of Chief Justice Sereno. This
describes PET Case. 004.

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