Groups, martial law survivors seek TRO vs. canvassing of Marcos votes

Groups on Wednesday filed a petition before the Supreme Court seeking the issuance of a temporary restraining order against the Senate and the House of Representatives from canvassing the votes of Ferdinand Marcos Jr. and proclaiming him president.

In a 75-page petition, the SC was asked to reverse the resolution of the Commission on Elections (Comelec) and to grant the petition for disqualification against Marcos.

The petition was filed by martial law survivors, religious and youth rights advocates, and the Campaign Against the Return of the Marcoses and Martial Law (Carmma).

Meanwhile, named as respondents were Comelec, Marcos, the Senate to be represented by Senate President Vicente Sotto III, and HOR to be represented by House Speaker Lord Allan Velasco.

Petitioners also urged the SC to declare the candidate with the second-highest votes — Vice President Leni Robredo — as the winner of the 2022 elections.

Based on partial and unofficial results, Robredo ranked second among presidential candidates with 14,822,051 votes with Marcos taking the lead with 31,104,175 votes.

The filing of the petition came a day after a petition seeking to cancel the certificate of candidacy of Marcos in Eleksyon 2022 reached the Supreme Court.

Perpetual disqualification

The petitioners argue that Marcos’ failure to file his income tax returns for four consecutive years while vice governor and governor of Ilocos Norte should not be regarded as a simple omission.

“It shows an utter disregard of the laws which, as chief executive of the province of Ilocos Norte, respondent convicted candidate Marcos Jr. took an oath to uphold,” they said.

“It is the repeated, deliberate, willful, and intentional violation of the tax code that makes such violation a crime involving moral turpitude,” they added.

According to the petitioners, Marcos should also be perpetually disqualified from running for public office, contrary to the claim of the former First Division of Comelec that the penalty is inapplicable to Marcos because the National Internal Revenue Code does not contain a provision on perpetual disqualification.

“Only, it actually does, via an amendment introduced by P.D. No. 1994, which COMELEC (Former First Division) itself acknowledged to have taken effect on 01 January 1986,” they said.

Petitioners argue that Marcos’ continued non-filing of his tax returns is “tantamount to a continuing violation” of Section 45 of the NIRC.

“[H]e did not even try to belatedly file his income tax return. He just did not. Therefore when the amendments introduced… took effect, respondent convicted candidate Marcos Jr. remained to be committing an offense in continued violation of the law,” they said.

Due to this failure, petitioners said that “all counts of violation of Sec. 45 of the NIRC are rightfully subject to the application of the accessory penalty of perpetual disqualification.”

They urged the High Court to declare that Marcos is perpetually disqualified from public office and cannot run even for the lowest elective position.

“Being perpetually disqualified from running for public office, respondent convicted candidate Marcos Jr.’s votes are stray votes and should not be considered and counted,” they said.

Atty. Vic Rodriguez, Marcos’ spokesperson, said it is understandable for petitioners to exhaust all remedies under the law, regardless of the dim chances of success.

“We live in a democracy and they enjoy rights under the Constitution, including an appeal or to seek for a restraining order,” Rodriguez said in a statement.

“We are confident, though, that the processes will uphold the overwhelming mandate that president-elect Bongbong Marcos has earned in the elections and we continue to call for unity and for all of us to move forward and proceed the national activity of building this nation,” he added.

In a statement, Atty. Howie Calleja, the petitioners' legal counsel, said they are mindful of the duty of Congress to convene and proclaim a president "however the Supreme Court likewise has a duty to uphold the rule of law regardless of any political exercise or issue.”

“We trust the integrity of all the justices of the Supreme Court and believe in their independence,” he added.

Calleja expressed hope for an immediate resolution to the case.

“We stand by the principles of truth and justice. As a fruit of a poisonous tree, no victory can be attained through lies and deceit. A disqualified and convicted candidate remains as such and no election can overshadow that,” he said.—with reports from Anna Felicia Bajo/AOL, GMA News