Presidential candidate Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. is set to face disqualification charges in a preliminary conference with the First Division of the Commission on Elections (COMELEC) on Friday, January 7.
While the former senator’s camp continues to call these “nuisance cases” and “pathetic stunts,” petitioners believe that they have grounds to end Marcos’s survey-topping candidacy on grounds that the dictator’s son committed crimes involving moral turpitude.
What is Marcos up against?
Eight petitioners challenged the former senator’s candidacy on various grounds. Of these, two have been dismissed, while six remain undecided.
The first petition, filed by fellow presidential candidate Danilo Lihaylihay, alleged that Marcos was a nuisance candidate. Lihaylihay, who was declared a nuisance candidate himself in 2016, argued that Marcos was making a mockery of the election by attempting to get his family back into Malacanang.
The poll body denied the petition on December 17, 2021 saying that Lihaylihay’s “sweeping statements and unfounded claims utterly failed to establish that [Marcos’s] candidacy put the election process in mockery or disrepute.” COMELEC also dismissed Tiburcio Marcos’s petition, arguing that Marcos, Jr. was ineligible because he is not the real son of the former dictator. He says the real Marcos heir died in 1975 and the one running is only an impostor.
Of the five pending cases, four call for disqualification, while one calls for the cancellation of the certificate of candidacy according to COMELEC spokesperson James Jimenez A disqualification case allows a substitute with the same surname, while a cancellation case would treat Marcos as if he never filed his candidacy, and so would not allow substitution.
First Quarter Storm survivor Bonifacio Ilagan led the first disqualification case alleging that Marcos’s failure to file his tax returns from 1982 to 1985 perpetually disqualifies him from running for any public office.
Moreover, he said that Marcos made “false material representations” when he filed his candidacy and said he was never convicted of a disqualifying offence. He was joined by other human rights advocates, religious and youth leaders, as well as the convenors of the groupCampaign Against the Return of the Marcoses and Martial Law (CARMMA).
They said that allowing Marcos Jr. to run “is not just to disregard an express provision of the law, but, in no uncertain terms, would be to reward convicted criminals for the evils and unjust acts they have committed.”
The Akbayan Citizens Party and other human rights advocates, filed a similar petition on December 2.
In response, Marcos spokesperson Atty. Vic Rodriguez said “We respect the right of every disillusioned groups to take whatever legal action they think would best serve their own agenda, as we also expect them to respect our right to be heard.”
Another petition citing Marcos Jr.’s tax problems came from the members of Pudno Nga Ilokano. This group claims that the “Solid North” long-associated with the Marcoses no longer exists.
“He is a government official who failed to file his proper taxes. Another is that under the NIRC, there is also a special disqualification to exercise the right of suffrage, ibig sabihin (that means) he is not a proper voter of the Philippines, and one of the qualifications to become a president of the Philippines is you must be a registered voter in the Philippines,” said their legal counsel, Paolo Santiago.
The Marcos camp said that these were pathetic stunts, and called on the petitioners to respect the Filipino people and their democratic right to decide for themselves and their collective future,
Unlike the other three focusing on tax evasion cases, National Commission on Muslim Filipinos Commissioner Abubakar Mangelen’s case hinges on party affiliation. He claimed that he was the proper chairman of Partido Federal ng Pilipinas (PFP), and that Marcos was not nominated properly.
PFP Secretary-General Thompson Lantion, on the other hand, said that Mangelen was ousted in the party convention held in September 2021. Marcos left the Nacionalista Party and joined PFP in October 2021.
The sole cancellation petition led by Fr. Christian Buenafe, co-chairperson of the Task Force Detainees of the Philippines, and Fides Lim, board chairperson of political prisoners’ group KAPATID.goes further by claiming that Marcos lied about his eligibility in his Certificate of Candidacy.
They secured documents from Quezon City Regional Trial Court Branch 105, allegedly confirming Marcos’s conviction.
“His continuing evasion of the sentence, coupled with his repeated misrepresentation of his eligibility all those times he ran for public office, is evidence of his intent to deceive the electorate and not to abide by the laws he aspires to execute,” said their lead counsel, former Supreme Court spokesperson Atty. Theodore Te.
What are the perspectives on the case??
The fate of these cases are still in doubt, as both sides have seen victories and defeats over the past few months.
On one hand, the COMELEC has already dismissed several cases against the Marcos heir. First, they decided to dismiss all “petitions-in-intervention” related to the first case. These petitions aimed to join the first case against Marcos.
The poll body said that they were dismissed because they were “crafty attempts to circumvent the deadline” and that they delayed the proceedings. As previously mentioned, they have also junked two other cases for the lack of substance.
Marcos supporters have celebrated these victories. They say that the dismissals prove that petitioners lack merit. Manila Times Columnist Yen Makabenta claimed that these dismissals are insufficient, and that the poll body is prolonging the other cases’ dismissal to put Marcos Jr. in a bad light. He furthered that the COMELEC’s delays were harassment against the former senator.
However, the Marcos camp cannot be too confident.
COMELEC Commissioner Rowena Guanzon, also chair of the First Division, called on lawyers involved in the case to “(please) shut up” because nothing was decided.
The commissioner also rebuked Marcos spokesperson Atty. Rodriguez, demanding that the he does not “diminish” the COMELEC’s commissioners after Rodriguez stated they must assert their independence.
Marcos cannot dismiss the danger easily. Former Chief Justice Artemio Panganiban, for example, said that the documents certifying that Marcos failed to pay is a significant threat to the former senator. Albay Representative Edcel Lagman also said that the Buenafe-Lim petition raised legal issues that will be hard for the Marcos camp to ignore as nuisance. .
What happens next?
COMELEC First Division set the preliminary conference on Saturday, January 7, at 9:00 AM to cover three petitions: Akbayan Partylist’s petition, Ilagan’s case with CARMMA, andMangelen’s PFP complaint.
Regardless of the poll body’s findings, however, experts predict that the deliberations have a long way to go. Even COMELEC cannot put a definite date on these cases but assures that they will be treated with priority.
Five months before the May 2022 elections, Marcos tops Pulse Asia’s December 1-6 presidential survey at 53% while her major rival Leni Robredo comes in second at 20%.
It is up to the COMELEC to fulfill its mandate: preserving the integrity of the country’s democracy. As they ponder the Marcos heir’s fate, the fate of the nation hangs in the balance as well.
Featured image courtesy of Reuters
