Leaders of various sectoral groups and martial law survivors on Thursday asked the Commission on Elections to disqualify Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr. from running for president in the 2022 elections, again citing his conviction for failure to file tax returns in the 1990s.
Akbayan partylist led labor and women's groups in filing the fifth formal petition against the only son and namesake of the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos, whom they said should be perpetually barred from running for public office due to his tax case conviction in 1995.
They also cited a 2012 Supreme Court decision saying that the Comelec has the constitutional duty to prevent candidates who are perpetually disqualified, like Marcos Jr., from repeatedly running for public office.
"To allow the Comelec to wait for a person to file a petition to cancel the certificate of candidacy of one suffering from perpetual special disqualification will result in the anomaly that these cases so grotesquely exemplify," the petitioners said.
"The Comelec will be grossly remiss in its constitutional duty to 'enforce and administer all laws' relating to the conduct of elections if it does not motu proprio bar from running for public office those suffering from perpetual special disqualification by virtue of a final judgment," it added.
Marcos Jr. previously ran and won as governor, congressman, and in 2010, as a senator, despite his conviction on tax-related cases.
Akbayan likened his previous electoral runs to the Marcos family's legacy of plunder and corruption.
"Hindi porket nakalusot silang magnakaw noon, papahintulutan pa rin sila magnakaw ngayon. In the same manner, just because Bongbong was able to run in the past, that doesn't mean he gets to do it again," said petitioner RJ Naguit, the second nominee of the Akbayan partylist.
Apart from this petition, Marcos Jr. is also facing four other cases seeking to block his presidential run.
He previously said the petition seeking to cancel his certificate of candidacy is nothing but a "nuisance" case, and that it would not hinder him from running for president in 2022.
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