The Commission on Elections (Comelec) on Friday held a preliminary conference on the first petition to cancel presidential aspirant and former Senator Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s certificate of candidacy for Eleksyon 2022.
Comelec spokesperson James Jimenez said the preliminary conference for the first cancellation case allowed both parties to make amendments.
However, both parties did not seek amendments for the petition.
“They were given opportunity to enter amendments into the petition in both sides but in this particular case walang amendments na binigay wala silang hiniling baguhin sa mga papel na sinubmit nila (no amendments were issued they did not change anything in the requested papers they submitted),” he said during a press briefing.
Jimenez said the poll body concluded that this petition is still pending as there will be more motions for interventions, as well as oral arguments.
“Nagsabi na yung ating Comelec that there are still pending incidents still refer to motions for interventions petition as well as motion from oral arguments. Sabi ng comelec since these things are pending we will wait until resolve before we give the period of filing the memoranda so waiting muna tayo,” he said.
(The Comelec said that there were still pending incidents that refer to motions for intervention petition as well as motions from oral arguments. The Comelec said since these things are pending we will wait until it is resolved before we give the period of filing the memoranda so let’s wait first.)
The Comelec spokesperson bared that only the petitioners and Marcos’ legal counsels were present during the conference.
Jimenez said the petitioners seeking Marcos’ disqualification and cancellation of his COC are largely based on material misrepresentation, since he declared that he has not been convicted of an offense carrying a penalty of perpetual disqualification from public office.
The petitioners — among them human rights advocates and Martial Law survivors — alleged that Marcos lied in his COC since he had been convicted for four counts of violating the Tax Code by the Court of Appeals due to his failure to file income tax returns from 1982 to 1985 when he was a public official of Ilocos Norte.
Under the Tax Code, such offenses made by a public official had a penalty of perpetual disqualification from public office. and
Jimenez said the poll body has yet to announce the schedules for the preliminary conference of the other cancellation cases filed against Marcos.
Asked if the resolution would be released before the release of the list of candidates and printing of ballots, Jimenez said “Possible pa rin (It is still possible).”
Lawyer Vic Rodriguez, Marcos’ chief of staff and spokesperson, had dismissed the petitions as “political propaganda.” — DVM, GMA News
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