Comelec to tackle petitions to cancel Marcos Jr.'s COC for President on Nov. 26

The Commission on Elections (Comelec) will discuss the merits of the petition to cancel the certificate of candidacy (COC) for President of former Senator Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos, Jr. on November 26.

Comelec spokesperson James Jimenez said this procedure is called the preliminary conference.

"The preliminary conference will be for purposes of clarifying positions and matters related to the petitions," Jimenez told GMA News Online on Tuesday.

"Parties will thereafter have three days to submit their respective memoranda and the case will be considered submitted for resolution," he added.

Groups of human rights advocates as well as survivors of the Martial Law regime of Bongbong's father, the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos, have asked the Comelec to cancel Marcos' certificate of candidacy based on his conviction in four criminal cases for violating the Tax Code over his failure to file his income tax returns from 1982 to 1985.

The former senator did not appeal these four counts of conviction before the Supreme Court.

The petitioners argued that Marcos' conviction in these cases constitutes a crime of moral turpitude and thus, disqualifies him to run for office as provided under the Omnibus Election Law.

This has since prompted at least 10 more individuals to seek cancellation of Marcos, Jr.'s COC for President. They said he made a false declaration in his COC that he is eligible to run even if he has prior convictions penalizing him with perpetual disqualification from holding public office.

The 10 petitioners, represented by lawyer Howard Calleja, argued that Marcos checked the box in the COC that says he was not convicted of any offense carrying a penalty of perpetual disqualification from public office, when in fact he, a public official in Ilocos Norte at the time of the offense, was found guilty beyond reasonable doubt of violating Sections 45 and 50 of the Tax Code.

Under the Tax Code, such offenses made by a public official carry the maximum penalty which includes dismissal from public service and perpetual disqualification from holding any public office, voting and participating in any election.

Marcos' camp has dismissed these petitions as nuisance and mere propaganda.

Marcos himself also refuted the allegation, saying it was a political ploy.

“Hindi ko nga naintindihan kasi sinasabi nila may problema raw sa aking kandidatura. May isang kaso raw na hindi naayos. Hindi ko alam. Sasagutin na lang namin ito pagdating,” the former senator said in a radio interview.

(I don't understand because they said there was a problem with my candidacy. They said there is a case that has not been fixed. I don't know. We will just answer it in time.)

“Siguro kasama na rin ‘yan sa pagpolitika lalo na ‘yong aming mga kalaban. Imbes na humarap sa sa eleksyon, kasi siguro natatakot sila sa numero, idi-disqualify na lang ako,” he added.

(Maybe that is also part of the politicking, especially of our opponents. Instead of facing the election, because maybe they are afraid of the number of votes, then they will just have me disqualified.) —KG, GMA News