BY GERARD NAVAL and JOCELYN MONTEMAYOR
A FIFTH petition seeking to remove former senator Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr from the May 2022 presidential race was filed at the Commission on Elections (Comelec) yesterday.
The 13-page petition for disqualification filed groups led by the Akbayan Citizens Action Party (Akbayan) said the Comelec should disqualify Marcos from running for president because he has been convicted of crimes that bar him from holding public office.
Meanwhile, President Duterte said he respects the decision of Sen. Christopher “Bong” Go to withdraw from the presidential race but asked what his final decision is.
“Sen. Bong Go. Ano ba talaga, Bong, tatakbo ka o hindi?… You have made a lot of people sad than happy. We respect your decision, lalo na kung pamilya, wala na tayong magawa diyan (Senator Bong Go. Are you running or not? … You have made a lot of people sad than happy. We respect your decision, especially if it concerns family. We cannot do anything about it),” Duterte said.
Go, Duterte’s preferred successor, announced his decision to withdraw last Tuesday, saying his family is against his running for president, and he did not really want the highest post in the country.
Duterte has not made public who he will support in the presidential race next year, after Go’s withdrawal.
The administration party PDP-Laban, Cusi faction, hopes Go would change his mind.
PDP-Laban faction secretary general Melvin Matibag, in an interview with CNN Philippines, said he and other party members are “praying for a miracle that he (Go) will continue” his presidential run as he has yet to officially withdraw his candidacy.
Sen. Emmanuel Pacquiao, presidential aspirant and leader of the other PDP-Laban faction, said he is open to the unification of the party provided Energy Secretary Alfonso Cusi will be out of the picture.
“We must remove Cusi because he everyone is affected. We have problems in the energy sector but yet he is prioritizing politics. You (Cusi) better come up with solutions to our problems to lower the cost of electricity, and not play politics all the time),” Pacquiao said in Filipino, in a press conference in General Santos City where he gave assistance to fire victims.
Pacquiao said all he wanted is for the PDP-Laban to be united once again.
“What I want is to unite the PDP. Hindi dapat kami magkakaiba ng adbokasiya (We must not have differing advocacies), “ he said.
Asked if he is willing to mend fences with President Duterte, Pacquiao said: “Hindi kami magka-away. Hindi masama ang loob ko sa kanya. Hindi ako galit sa kanya. Galit ako sa mga kawatan. Sa corruption ako galit kasi dahil diyan nagihirap ang ating bansa. Nasa puso ko ang ang ating bansa sa kahirapan.”
(We are not enemies. I have no hurt feelings towards him, I am not angry with him. I am angry at thieves, at corruption),” he added.
Cracks in the PDP-Laban started when Pacquiao criticized President Duterte’s changing stance on the West Philippine Sea issue. The rift grew after Cusi, who was then party vice chairman, called for a national assembly without the approval of Pacquiao, who was the party president. The rift grew further when Pacquiao said corruption still exists in the Duterte administration. The President shot back by saying Pacquiao still has unsettled tax cases.
LIFETIME BAN
The petition against Marcos is centered on his 1995 conviction for failing to pay income tax or file tax returns while in public office from 1982 to 1985, which carries a lifetime election ban.
Outside the Comelec office in Intramuros, Manila, more than a dozen people chanted “Disqualify, BBM! Disqualify! Disqualify!” while carrying posters bearing the same message.
BBM refers to “Bongbong” Marcos, his nickname. His media group did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
They said the son of the late dictator is “perpetually disqualified from holding public office” as he was found guilty of failing to file his income tax returns.
The petition was centered on Marcos’ 1995 conviction for failing to pay income tax or file tax returns while in public office from 1982 to 1985, which carries a lifetime election ban.
“He was the son of the ruling dictator, the same dictator who imposed the penalty of perpetual disqualification,” the petitioners said, referring to a 1985 amendment to the internal revenue code permanently barring a public officer convicted of a tax crime from voting and running in any election.
“Perhaps he thought he was an exception to his father’s decrees,” the petition said.
Since his conviction, Marcos, 64, has been elected governor, congressman and senator and ran unsuccessfully for the vice presidency.
“He may have been allowed to run in 2016 but we will not allow him to run again,” said petitioner and Akbayan youth chairperson Rj Naguit.
Akbayan and company’s petition is the fifth case filed against Marcos’ presidential bid. The other four are the petitions for declaration as a nuisance candidate, filed by Danilo Lihaylihay; for cancellation of certificate of candidacy, filed by Fr Christian Buenafe and others; for cancellation of certificate of candidacy, by Tiburcio Marcos; and for disqualification filed by Bonifacio Ilagan and others.
Meanwhile, the Comelec’s Second Division asked the camps of Marcos and Buenafe et. al. to file their respective comments on the two bids to intervene in “via e-mail to the official e-mail address of the Clerk of Commission within a non-extendible period of five calendar days from the receipt of this order.”
This is in relation to the answer-in-intervention filed by Reynaldo Tamayo et al on November 22, and by the Partido Federal ng Pilipinas (PFP) on November 24.
LENI TARPAULINS
The camp of Vice President Leni Robredo condemned the takedown of posters, tarps, and pink ribbons installed by supporters of presidential aspirant n areas around the country.
Her spokesman, Barry Gutierrez, said Robredo supporters n Zamboanga City reported to the Office of the Vice President their tarps, posters, and ribbons were taken down from Wednesday night to Thursday morning, even those installed on private properties.
Gutierrez said the takedown is a form of repression against Filipinos’ right to express their support for a candidate.
The Vice President’s supporters in Masbate City also complained that their posters and tarpaulins were removed on the eve of Robredo’s visit to the city on November 30.
Gutierrez said the materials taken down were made and paid for by volunteers of Robredo as part of their people’s campaign, whose growing strength nationwide may have already caused fear among some quarters.
Senate minority leader Franklin Drilon urged fellow Ilonggos to show support to Robredo on her first visit to Iloilo as presidential aspirant today.
Robredo is set to visit Iloilo to meet and personally thank her thousands of Ilonggo supporters and meet with local leaders. — With Raymond Africa, Ashzel Hachero and Reuters
