THE Commission on Elections (Comelec) has rejected moves to intervene in the petition to cancel the certificate of candidacy (COC) of presidential aspirant Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr., saying their admission will cause “undue delays” in the resolution of the case.
In a 17-page resolution, the Comelec Second Division denied the motions for intervention filed by the group led by Rommel Bautista, as well as the motion to intervene and admit answer-in-intervention filed by Reynaldo Tamayo and the Partido Federal ng Pilipinas (PFP), which is the party that nominated Marcos.
“The Commission is of the view that allowing the intervention of Bautista, et al. shall unduly delay or prejudice the adjudication of the rights of the original parties in this case. If the instant Motion for Intervention is granted, this will necessarily result to unduly delaying the resolution of the main petition,” said the Comelec.
“In the exercise of this discretion, the Commission (Second Division) declares that admitting the Tamayo and PFP Motions will certainly cause undue delay in the adjudication of the rights of the original parties. The resolution of these pending incidents, not to mention the possible institution of similar Answers-in-Intervention by other curious parties, would surely lead to further delay in the resolution of the main case,” it added.
In rejecting the Bautista motion, the poll body noted how this was used to file another petition after the 25-day period to file petitions to cancel COCs after the last day of the filing of certificates of candidacies had lapsed.
“Any petition under Section 78, which is filed past the 25-day mandatory period should not be allowed. Corollary to this, any petition, disguised as an intervention, which is belatedly filed, should not be permitted by the Commission,” the poll body ruled.
The Bautista motion for intervention was filed on November 8.
On the other hand, the Comelec viewed the motions filed by Tamayo and the PFP as attempts to file a belated answer on behalf of Marcos.
“Here, both Tamayo, et al. and the PFP suddenly entered the picture and attempted to intervene by submitting their respective Answers-in-Intervention, raising therein matters or defenses which were not advanced by respondent BBM in his answer dated 19 November 2021,” it said.
“If the Commission (Second Division) shall admit the Tamayo and PFP Motions and consider the same in the resolution of the main case, we would in effect be according undue advantage to respondent BBM. Allowing the intervention of Tamayo, et al. and PFP necessarily places respondent BBM on an unfairly advantageous position,” it added.
Tamayo and PFP filed their respective motions to intervene last November 22 and 24, respectively.
The petition to cancel the COC of Marcos filed by Fr. Christian Buenafe and others is just one of the numerous cases filed against the presidential aspirant in the May 2022 polls.
Other petitions filed against Marcos are for declaration as a nuisance candidate filed by Danilo Lihaylihay, for cancellation of certificate of candidacy by Tiburcio Marcos, for disqualification by Bonifacio Ilagan and others, for disqualification by Akbayan party, for disqualification by Abubakar Mangelen, and for disqualification by members of the “Pudno Nga Ilokano” (Real Ilocanos).
Meanwhile, the Comelec admitted it was unlikely that it could meet its self-imposed December 15 deadline for it to release the official list of candidates for the May 2022 elections.
“For our individual candidates, the original expectation was that we will release it by December 15. I don’t know if we will be able to make it exactly December 15,” said Comelec spokesman James Jimenez in a virtual press briefing on Monday.
Jimenez said there are still pending motu proprio (on its own) cases filed against some aspirants for public office.
The Comelec has filed motu proprio cases against 82 presidential (out of 97), 15 vice presidential (from 28), and 108 (from 174) senatorial candidates.
Still in a related development, the Comelec said the raffle for the order of listing of 166 party-list organizations that are participating in next year’s polls will be held today.
“The Commission resolves, in the interest of justice to reset the date of raffle of party-list groups to determine their order of listing on the Official Ballot in connection with the May 9, 2022 national and local elections to December 14, 2021 at 10 a.m. using Microsoft Teams,” said the Comelec in Minute Resolution No. 21-1397.
The Comelec last week postponed the raffle to allow party-list groups, organizations, and coalitions with pending registration bids to have the opportunity to secure a status quo ante order from the Supreme Court.
On Monday, the Comelec said some 30 decisions have already been released to denied party-list organizations, while those of 70 others are still being processed.
The raffle will be physically held at the Comelec session hall, with the attendance of at least two members of the Commission en banc as well as representatives of the different departments and offices of the Commission. Only one authorized representative per party-list group, organization, or coalition shall be entitled to participate virtually, via MS Teams.
After the automated raffle, the Comelec will have the randomized listing printed and signed on each page by the person who initiated the software or application, and other Comelec representatives, while being displayed via the MS Teams.
“No appeal, motion for reconsideration, or motion to re-raffle shall be entertained,” the Comelec said.
Within 15 days after the conduct of the raffle, the Comelec said a final listing shall be published in two newspapers of general circulation and posted in its official website.
