The Commission on Elections' first division is set to issue its decision on the disqualification cases against presidential aspirant Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr. on or before Jan. 17, its presiding officer said Tuesday.
If the situation permits, the decision will be read out in the session hall and will be livestreamed, Comelec Commissioner Rowena Guanzon sai.
The poll body's first division last Friday held a preliminary conference on three disqualification cases against Marcos filed by a group of martial law victims, the Akbayan party-list, and a certain Abubakar Mangelen.
The first two groups alleged that Marcos is "perpetually ineligible" to run for public office as he was found guilty of failing to file income tax returns and pay his income taxes from 1982 to 1985.
Mangelen, who introduced himself as the duly-elected chairman of the Partido Federal ng Pilipinas, said in his disqualification petition that Marcos' nomination as the party's standard bearer was “unauthorized, defective, invalid and void."
If the petition for disqualification is granted with finality, Marcos can still be substituted by another candidate, provided that he or she has the same surname, according to Comelec rules.
The Comelec earlier dismissed a petition to declare Marcos as a nuisance candidate and another petition to cancel his certificate of candidacy alleging that he is only an impostor.
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