Malacanang said on Tuesday it respects the decision of the Presidential Electoral Tribunal, junking the election protest of administration ally former Senator Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos against Vice President Leni Robredo.

"That's the decision of the Supreme Court, we respect that and we respect also that the camp of Senator Bongbong Marcos has a further remedy of moving for reconsideration," said Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque in a televised press briefing in Davao City.

With the decision of the Supreme Court acting as PET favoring Robredo, asked if President Rodrigo Duterte would now have a better working relationship with the vice president, Roque said, "I don't think it makes any difference because the President has always referred to VP Leni as the Vice President."

He acknowledged that Duterte has always preferred Marcos, the son of late dictator Ferdinand Marcos, to be the vice president.

"I think the preference remains but the fact is, the Vice President has become the de jure vice president," Roque added.

The 15-man PET unanimously dismissed the election protest filed by Marcos against Robredo five years ago.

In a separate statement, Chief Presidential Legal Counsel Salvador Panelo said the "rule of law has prevailed" following the decision of the PET.

"Due process was evidently observed with both parties having been given the opportunity to present their respective cases," he said.

He advised Marcos' camp and his supporters to accept the verdict "no matter how wrong or unacceptable it is to them."

"That is the rule of the majority. We have to abide by the precepts of democracy. We cannot be blinded by our personal biases for a particular candidate. That is how democracy works. The minority must submit and concede to the majority," Panelo said.

Since the PET has spoken, he said it behooves everyone to abide by it.

Panelo said there is always another election to vindicate one's loss or validate forever one's rejection by the voting population.

In his election protest, Marcos accused that he was cheated during the vice presidential polls in 2016. Celerina Monte/DMS