MANILA, Philippines — The petition seeking the cancellation of presidential aspirant Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr.’s Certificate of Candidacy was raffled off to the second division of the Commission on Elections and summons to parties may be sent within the week, spokesperson James Jimenez said.
“The case has been raffled to the [Second] Division. Owing to the large number of cases on the docket, no summons for the particular case has been issued yet, but is expected within the week,” Jimenez told reporters on Tuesday night.
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In an interview with GMA’s Unang Hirit on Wednesday morning, Jimenez said the petition challenging Marcos’ COC may be resolved before the release of official candidates for the 2022 polls in December.
“Kung hindi naman siya magtatagal ng masyado, kung walang masyadong hearing o mga clarificatory hearings na hihingin, mukha namang matatapos natin on time dahil tatlong araw lang naman ang ibibigay natin sa kanila sa pag-submit ng kanilang respective memoranda, so ‘yung mga pleading nila,” he said.
(If proceedings will not take long, if there will be not many hearings or clarificatory hearings to be set, it looks like we can finish on time because they will only be given three days to submit their respective memoranda, their pleadings.)
Reports said that the Comelec Second Division is composed of Commissioners Socorro Inting and Antonio Kho Jr.
Inting is a former Court of Appeals justice, while Kho previously served as justice undersecretary. Both were appointed by Duterte to the commission.
Inting and Kho will handle the petition filed by six civic leaders, filed through lawyer Theodore Te. They accused Marcos of making false representation on his COC, citing a Quezon City trial court conviction of Marcos in 1995 on failure to file income tax returns for multiple years.
They told the Comelec: “In the instant case, not only has respondent Marcos Jr. been convicted of a crime by final judgment which carries the penalty of disqualification, his repeated violations of the [National Internal Revenue Code] and his continued evasion/non-payment of taxes renders his conviction as one involving moral turpitude.”
A group of ten professionals also sought to join the petition filed through Te. In a petition-in-intervention filed through lawyer Howard Calleja, the group argued that the Court of Appeals ruling that modified the trial court ruling and deleted jail time for Marcos is void.
“As such since respondent convicted criminal Marcos was imposed the penalty of imprisonment exceeding eighteen months, his certificate of candidacy should be canceled for false material representation as he is actually disqualified under Section 12 of the Omnibus Election Code,” they said.
Marcos, for his part, has dismissed the petitions to cancel his COC as "nuisance."
In a press conference on Monday, Marcos was quoted as saying in this ABS-CBN report: "Dumaan na ako sa walong halalaan. That was a case against me. Noong bumalik ako nu'n 1991 pero Syempre 'yun kalaban gusto maglagay ng bagong issue. 'Yun mga abogado naman na nakakausap ko, sabi it's a nuisance petition."
(I went through eight elections. That was a case against me. When I returned in 1991, but of course our opponents want a new issue. Lawyers I have talked to said it's a nuisance petition.) — Kristine Joy Patag