ONE of the groups of petitioners looking to thwart the presidential bid of former senator Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr yesterday appealed the decision of the Commission on Elections (Comelec) last week to give the latter more time to file his verified answer to their petition, and questioned the apparent “insider” information the Marcos camp had about the decision.
In a 16-page motion for reconsideration, the petitioners led by Fr Christian Buenafe said the November 18 decision of the Comelec Second Division granting Marcos another five days to file his verified answer to the “petition to deny due course or cancel” Marcos’ certificate of candidacy (COC) is against the poll body’s rules.
They said the Comelec’s rules provide no ground, no leeway, no discretion for any extension of time.
“As petitioners observed in their prior opposition with motion to bar, such inextendible period is mandatory or peremptory in character that is meant to avoid delays in the disposition of cases in general and to ensure the expeditious determination of the popular will of the electorate in election cases in particular,” they said.
They also noted that the order granting the extension was made on November 18, or past the period to file a verified answer, which lapsed on November 16.
“For this reason, there was nothing to grant; the respondent’s motion for extension was now moot. The order dated 18th November effectively granted a new period to respondent.
There is nothing in the rules of the Commission that allows this,” they said.
The petitioners also noted the Second Division referred to a petition in intervention brought by a different set of parties as a reason for granting the extension, and said that petition is completely irrelevant to the case at hand.
“The Commission’s Summons dated 11 November 2021 neither mentioned nor considered said petition in intervention. There has been no order consolidating that petition with the petition at hand nor any order in this case directing respondent to address the proposed intervention,” said the petitioners.
Last Thursday, the Comelec Second Division granted the motion for extension to submit their verified answer filed by Marcos. Marcos’ camp filed its verified answer to the Comelec last Friday.
The petitioners asked if the Marcos camp had “insider” information, after Marcos’ spokesman, Vic Rodriguez, announced in the morning of November 18 that the motion for extension was granted by the Comelec on November 17.
It should be noted that in the early afternoon of November 18, Comelec spokesman James Jimenez belied Rodriguez claim.
“Petitioners take serious exception to the respondent’s preternatural ability to dictate the Second Division’s decision a day before the Commission even deliberated the matter,” said the petitioners.
“As an incident to the Commission’s mandate to administer credible elections, statements like those of respondent’s spokesperson that suggest an undue, intimate, insider familiarity with the Commission cast a long shadow over the Commission’s credibility,” they added.
They said the Comelec has to ask the Marcos camp Rodriguez’ statement “alluding to insider knowledge of the Commission’s actions.”
