SC affirms dismissal of disqualification case vs Marcos

MANILA. President-elect Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr. (Photo from Marcos' Facebook page)
MANILA. President-elect Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr. (Photo from Marcos' Facebook page)

THE Supreme Court (SC) affirmed on Tuesday, June 28, 2022, the decision of the Commission on Elections (Comelec) to dismiss the petition calling for the disqualification of incoming President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. from the May 9 national elections.

Voting 13-0, the SC en banc ruled that Marcos is qualified to run and be elected to public office.

“The Court held that in the exercise of its power to decide the present controversy led them to no other conclusion but that respondent Marcos Jr. is qualified to run for and be elected to public office,” it said in a press briefer.

“Likewise, his [certificate of candidacy], being valid and in accord with the pertinent law, was rightfully upheld by the Comelec,” the court added.

Justice Henri Jean Paul B. Inting, the brother of incumbent Comelec Commissioner Socorro B. Inting and Justice Antonio T. Kho Jr., who is a former Comelec commissioner, did not take part in the deliberations.

In May, the petitioners composed of civic leaders filed a petition for certiorari before the SC seeking a temporary restraining order for the Senate of the Philippines and the House of Representatives to stop canvassing the votes garnered by Marcos during the just concluded elections and to not proclaim him as the winner.

This came as the Comelec dismissed their petition calling for Marcos’ disqualification on the basis of his conviction before a Quezon City court over multiple failure to file his income tax return from 1982 to 1985.

Petitioners said Marcos’ conviction makes him perpetually disqualified from holding public offices.

They also called for the cancellation and declaration void ab initio of Marcos’ COC and to treat him as if he has never been a candidate in the 2022 elections.

Marcos faced at least five disqualification cases before the Comelec but it was all dismissed.

He gained a total of 31,629,783 votes or 58.77 percent of the total votes for the presidential position in the national polls. (SunStar Philippines)

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