Guanzon dares Marcos Jr. to deny hand in delayed resolution of DQ case

Elections Commissioner Rowena Guanzon on Tuesday dared presidential aspirant Ferdinand Marcos Jr. to issue a statement if he had nothing to do with the delay in the resolution of his disqualification case.

In a forum organized by the Foreign Correspondents Association of the Philippines (FOCAP), Guanzon said the statement would give her protection considering that there were many people who are “very loyal” to Marcos.

“Mr. Marcos Jr., you should issue a statement if you did not have a hand in this. Sir, you should issue a statement because, you know, I know the Marcoses are not vindictive," Guanzon said.

"You should issue a statement Mr. Marcos Jr. because all of these issues might endanger my life,” she added.

Guanzon reminded Marcos that she was not her enemy, citing her personal relationship with his family, specifically with his sister Senator Imee Marcos.

“You know, I’m a friend of your family. You look at the Facebook of Senator Imee Marcos," Guanzon said.

"Was I not the one who raised her hand there and proclaimed her senator? Because she was my classmate in the UP College of Law,” she added, saying that she even attended some social gatherings organized by the Marcoses.

“I’m not your enemy, Mr. Marcos Jr. I’m not your enemy. In fact, I am helping you to see that your case will go up to the Supreme Court as soon as possible,” Guanzon said.

Guanzon said an early resolution of the disqualification case would be “more beneficial” to Marcos as this would give him remedies should the Supreme Court decide to disqualify him.

“If you are not DQed, fine. If you are DQed then your wife can substitute you. It is for your benefit and the nation’s interest, Mr. Marcos, that this case is resolved by the Supreme Court as soon as possible and since we are only three months away from the elections,” Guanzon said.

In a statement, Marcos’ chief of staff and spokesperson, lawyer Vic Rodriguez said there are “some statements that don’t deserve a reaction and are better left ignored.”

Last week, Guanzon disclosed that she voted for Marcos' disqualification Marcos, a move that she said she was forced to do as she noticed an “unreasonable delay” in the promulgation of the decision in the First Division.

She claimed there were efforts to influence Ferolino.

Guanzon is the presiding officer and the most senior poll commissioner in the Comelec First Division.

Ferolino, however, accused Guanzon of trying to influence her decision on the said cases.

She further claimed that the senior poll commissioner was conditioning the minds of the public, maintaining that there was no delay in the resolution of the disqualification cases against Marcos.

Guanzon had already released her separate opinion in which she voted for Marcos’ disqualification as she believes that the non-filing of income tax returns for four consecutive years constitutes moral turpitude.

Guanzon also revealed that she was supposed to take the Marcos cases out of Ferolino's hands and pass them over to Comelec Commissioner Marlon Casquejo.

“My solution there was to remove it [from] Commissioner Ferolino and give it to Commissioner Casquejo. That is the reason why Commissioner Casquejo called her up. Because even if he’s very busy in the operations, he was willing just to finish it. But she knew why she was calling that’s why she was not answering calls,” Guanzon said.

Casquejo heads the Comelec steering committee for the 2022 national and local elections.

Guanzon then proposed changing Comelec rules to allow presiding commissioners to remove a case from a subordinate in cases of national interest, incapacity, or incompetence.

Further, Guanzon stated that the cases should be raffled off after their retirement because the composition of each division will change.

“Those [cases] have to be re-raffled since the composition of the First Division will change on February 3,” she said.

Ferolino will be joined by Commissioner Socorro Inting in the First Division on February 3, the day after Guanzon's retirement. 

Inting, as the most senior Comelec commissioner, will also serve as the presiding officer of the First Division.

Inting, the current presiding officer of the Comelec Second Division which junked the petitions to cancel Marcos' certificate of candidacy, will be replaced by Casquejo following the poll body’s seniority protocol. —NB/VBL, GMA News