Philippine Elections Body Dismisses Petitions to Block Marcos Presidential Run

The Philippine election commission on Thursday cleared another hurdle in the way of a presidential run by the son and namesake of the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos, by dismissing petitions seeking his disqualification.

To the dismay of the anti-Marcos lobby, the Philippines’ Commission on Elections (Comelec) threw out three consolidated petitions that sought to disqualify Ferdinand Marcos Jr. from campaigning for president in the May 9 general election. In its ruling, Comelec said his 1995 conviction in a tax case was not a serious offense.

“The consolidated petitions have been dismissed for lack of merit by the Comelec’s 1st Division, commission spokesperson James Jimenez said on Twitter.

In dismissing the petitions, the division said the “failure to file income tax [returns] is not a grave offense,” because the only penalty is a fine.

“The failure to file tax returns is not inherently wrong in the absence of a law punishing it. The said omission became punishable only through the enactment of the Tax Code,” the division said in the decision.

Last month, another division of the body threw out a similar petition against Marcos Jr.

The petitioners can still appeal the decision before higher divisions, but those appeals could take weeks or months to settle, analysts have said.

The petitions had been filed by survivors of martial law (1972-1981) imposed by the candidate’s father, the late President Ferdinand E. Marcos who ruled the country from 1965 until he was deposed in a people’s power uprising in 1986. The petitions against his son stemmed from Marcos Jr.’s past conviction for a tax violation.

Marcos Jr., known widely here as “Bongbong,” was found guilty of four counts of tax evasion in 1995, convictions that were upheld two years later.

He has one more pending disqualification case in the Comelec’s 2nd Division. Additionally, two other cases that seek to prevent his candidacy are on appeal, after these were earlier dismissed at the division level.

Marcos Jr., a member of one of the most powerful political dynasties in Asia, is vying to replace Rodrigo Duterte, whose six-year term ends in 2022. 

Running as his vice presidential pick is Duterte’s daughter, Sara Duterte-Carpio, who earlier this week called on supporters to “protect” Marcos Jr., without elaborating on what she meant.

‘Nuisance petitions’

The Marcos Jr. camp welcomed Comelec’s decision.

“We again commend the honorable members of the Comelec’s 1st Division for upholding the law by dismissing cases that we have long described as nuisance petitions,” said Vic Rodriguez, Marcos Jr.’s spokesperson.

“The petitioners in this case were found guilty of lying and of deliberately misleading the Comelec by intentionally quoting the wrong provisions of the law and squeezed them into their faulty narratives.”

Comelec’s latest decision came weeks after a feud among the poll body’s commissioners exploded in public.

Prior to her retirement on Feb. 2, a former first division presiding commissioner, Rowena Guanzon, revealed her vote to disqualify Marcos Jr. She accused Commissioner Aimee Ferolino, the ponente of the case, of deliberately delaying the decision until after Guanzon’s retirement.

Ferolino insisted that Guanzon was in an “undue rush” to issue the decision. A ponente is the person who is assigned the writing of a decision or resolution in a case.

‘Major setback’

Comelec’s decision did not please political groups Akbayan, and the Campaign Against the Return of the Marcoses and Martial Law (CARMMA).

Akbayan, which was among the petitioners, called the decision a “major setback” to electoral democracy in the country.

“It is a missed opportunity to defend the truth and protect the public from a large-scale election swindle by a convicted tax evader,” Akbayan said in a statement.

“Yet, the outcome doesn’t dishearten us. This is merely a bend in the road, not the end of it. This is just the beginning of our struggle to protect our electoral democracy from fraud and impunity.”

CARMMA said it was dismayed by the decision.

“It is utterly ridiculous for Commissioners Aimee Ferolino and Marlon Casquejo to dismiss our petitions for ‘lack of merit,’” the group said in a statement.

“We take exception to the First Division’s ruling that Marcos Jr.’s sentence to pay fines does not fall under the instances for disqualification, and that his failure to file tax returns ‘is not inherently wrong in the absence of a law punishing it.’”

Meanwhile, recent pre-election surveys showed Marcos Jr. as the frontrunner, with at least 50 percent of those polled naming him their presidential choice.

Coming in a far second was Leni Robredo, the outgoing vice president, seen by many here as the antithesis to the prospect of a Marcos-Duterte regime.