THE final ruling on the disqualification cases against presidential candidate Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr., could be resolved by late April, according to the Commission on Elections (Comelec).
Comelec Commissioner George Garcia said deliberations on motions for reconsideration are being fast tracked.
“The Chairman (Saidamen Pangarungan) is committing that before the end of April, a decision by the en banc will be forthcoming,” said Garcia.
“Therefore, a decision on these consolidated cases as well as the cases with MR will be decided before the elections,” he added.
This developed as Malacañang said President Duterte met with Marcos and gave the former senator some “advice.” Acting presidential spokesman Martin Andanar did not give details.
To recall, the Comelec First and Second Divisions have dismissed six cases against Marcos for lack of merit. Subsequently, the petitioners filed their motions for reconsideration respective before the Comelec en banc.
A case filed by members of the Pudno Nga Ilokano (pure Ilocanos) against Marcos is pending before the Comelec 2nd Division.
Asked if there will still be enough time to elevate the case to the Supreme Court, Garcia said the High Court “will be able to resolve this immediately if it wants to.”
In a related development, Garcia said Pangarungan also directed that the dispute between two factions of Partido Demokratiko Pilipino-Lakas ng Bayan (PDP-Laban) be resolved by next month.
Garcia said the poll chief wants the ruling to be promulgated simultaneously with the Marcos cases.
“The Chair instructed the ponente to come up with the decision, if not ahead of the (Marcos) cases or at least simultaneous with those cases,” said Garcia.
In September last year, the wing of Energy Secretary Alfonso Cusi filed a petition against the camp of Senators Aquilino Pimentel III and Emmanuel Pacquiao asking the poll body to declare the latter as illegal representatives of PDP-Laban.
This after the two camps have submitted their “sworn information update statement” as required by the Comelec ahead of the May 9 elections.
Last January, the Comelec said it placed the PDP-Laban case on status quo, which means that no one among the candidates of the two factions has been declared as independent.
Andanar said the Duterte-Marcos meeting “was a cordial and productive meeting, where the President shared his experiences and insights as an outgoing Chief Executive with the presidential aspirant.”
“President Duterte likewise discussed the current government’s major achievements and gave pieces of advice to Mr. Marcos,” he also said.
President Duterte has said he prefers to remain neutral but will endorse a presidential candidate if there are compelling reasons to do so.
Senator and former Duterte aide, Christopher “Bong” Go said the meeting happened in Manila while vice presidential bet and presidential daughter Sara Duterte-Carpio said the meeting between her father and her running mate happened over the weekend but she was not present.
She said all she knows is that there was some mention of the PDP-Laban’s endorsement of Marcos, which the Cusi faction of the party announced on Tuesday.
Meanwhile, the National Unity Party formally endorsed the tandem of Marcos and Duterte-Carpio and called on members to “join hands with former Senator Marcos in bringing our country and people to continued prosperity and progress”.
“BBM’s call for unity as the basic strategy for economic recovery, amidst the continuing COVID-19 pandemic and global uncertainties, is consistent and supportive of the NUP’s primary vision of ‘one nation, one future’ as enshrined in the Party constitution,” NUP deputy secretary general and spokesman Reggie Velasco said in a statement.
The Partido Federal ng Pilipinas (PFP) of Marcos and Reform Party (RP) formally entered into an alliance last Wednesday that led to their endorsement and full support of the Marcos-Duterte-Carpio tandem.
PFP secretary general Thompson Lantion and RP president James Layug led the signing of an agreement that was held at the BBM headquarters in Mandaluyong City.
The Laguna government adopted Duterte-Carpio as its “daughter,” recognizing the traits of national hero Jose Rizal in her.
Laguna Vice Gov. Karen Agapay said the Laguna council, last March 16 issued a provincial resolution that declared Duterte-Carpio as the province’s adopted daughter.
Duterte-Carpio, in a chance interview, said the UniTeam would adopt a campaign strategy starting April.
She said that instead of focusing on caravans and in person campaign rallies, they would also be holding more online campaigning to reach more people.
“Mayroon pong desisyon na mag-change po ng strategy ng pangangampanya pagdating po ng April. So ito po yung third phase na ng aming pangngampanya. It will be equal parts, online campaigning and face to face (There was a decision to change the strategy of our campaigning this April. This is the third phase of our campaign. It will be equal parts, online campaigning and face to face),” she said.
While Marcos and Duterte-Carpio had been seen campaigning together in some areas, they have also been conducting separate campaigns to reach more people.
Retired Supreme Court Senior Associate Justice Antonio Carpio urged the Bureau of Internal Revenue to file criminal cases against the Marcos family, including Marcos Jr. for ‘willful refusal” to pay estate taxes now amounting to around P203 billion to the government.
Speaking during a 1Sambayan virtual forum, Carpio said the BIR should not waste any more time and file the criminal cases against the Marcoses as they have not paid even a single centavo of the amount they owed the government since the High Court issued its ruling affirming their liability in 1997.
“Almost a quarter of a century, they did not pay tax to the government. Ano pang hinihintay ng BIR? Sampahan na nila ng criminal case (What is the BIR waiting for? They should file a criminal case ). That’s the last thing that they can do. They should now file the criminal case,” Carpio said.
He said Marcos Jr. and the family matriarch Imelda can be sued by the BIR and the Department of Justice under Section 255 of the Tax Code for willful refusal to pay the estate tax of the Marcos estate. — With Jocelyn Montemayor and Ashzel Hachero
