Lawyer files COC for 94-year-old Enrile, ex-senator listed as ‘businesswoman’

Represented by lawyer Joseph Sagandoy, 94-year-old former Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile on Tuesday filed his candidacy for the 2019 senatorial elections.

The longtime lawyer and Marcos Cabinet member's certificate of candidacy contained an apparent error as it listed his occupation as "businesswoman."

The mistake was corrected before the period for the filing of COCs that day ended at 5 p.m. Correction fluid was used to modify the mistake; the form now describes Enrile as a businessman.

Commission on Elections spokesperson James Jimenez said that it was a small detail that can be easily corrected and was inconsequential to Enrile’s eligibility as a candidate.

“It is a small thing. It is not perjury and can be corrected in no time. A candidate cannot be disqualified based on that,” he said.

Jimenez also said that Enrile’s camp might have misunderstood the COC form.

Question number 19 asks for the name of the applicant's spouse, while question number 20 asks for the occupation of the filer.

“It could be a misunderstanding. Look at question 19. Baka akala occupation of spouse,” Jimenez said in a text message to GMA News Online.

“I really can’t say [whose error it is at this point],” he added.

Enrile is out on bail while facing charges in connection with the P172-million plunder charge against him.

He is accused of funneling his priority development assistance fund allocations to NGOs controlled by Janet Lim Napoles. —NB/BM, GMA News