PRESIDENT-ELECT Ferdinand Marcos Jr. has asked the Supreme Court to junk a petition filed by civic leaders to cancel his certificate of candidacy saying the High Court has no jurisdiction to hear the case while the petition has no basis.
In a comment dated May 31 filed by lawyer Estelito Mendoza, Marcos argued it is only the Presidential Electoral Tribunal (PET) which may inquire into his eligibility.
“The Honorable Court is without jurisdiction to issue the temporary restraining order and or enjoin and restrain Congress from canvassing the votes cast for BBM. In addition, the request for a temporary restraining order (TRO) has become moot,” it said.
Marcos explained that since the proclamation of the winning presidential and vice candidates is over, only the SC, sitting as the PET, is the sole judge of all contests relating to the qualifications of a president.
He said the petition must be dismissed also for lack of merit because he did not commit any material misrepresentation in his certificate of candidacy (COC), contrary to the claim of the petitioners.
“The decision of the Comelec Second Division and the Comelec En Banc on the absence of any false material misrepresentation in the COC is a finding of fact that is entitled to great weight and must be accorded full respect. The Comelec correctly ruled that the petition for cancellation was subject to summary dismissal,” Marcos’ comment said.
Marcos also said is not disqualified from running for the presidency and that and has no intention to mislead, misinform and deceive the electorate.
“None of the grounds alleged by petitioners is material. BBM did not commit any false representation in his COC because the penalty of absolute perpetual disqualification was never imposed on him,” it said, adding that Section 252 of the 1977 National Internal Revenue Code, as amended, is not ipso facto imposed upon the mere fact of conviction.
Marcos further said the petitioners’ claim that his status as a public officer at the time of the commission of the offense “is a conclusive and incontrovertible fact” is bereft of basis.
To recall, Marcos was convicted in July 1995 by Branch 105 of the Quezon City Regional Trial Court (RTC) for failure to file income tax returns and pay income taxes from 1982 to 1985.
The court sentenced him to seven years in prison and fined him for violation of the National Internal Revenue Code.
He appealed the case to the Court of Appeals which ruled in 1997 to uphold the conviction but modified the penalty imposed by the RTC by removing the prison term and merely imposing a fine.
Lastly, Marcos said the petition “defiles the sovereign will of the Filipino people.”
“To allow the defeated and rejected candidate to take over is to disenfranchise the citizens representing 58.77 percent of the votes cast, without fault on their part,” he said.
“If all of these do not yet suffice, BBM’s vote of 31,629,783, is more than twice as many as the vote of Leni Robredo with 15,035,773 votes, the voice of the Filipino electorate is true and clear that they do not find grounds to disqualify BBM, but they want him to be the president of the Republic of the Philippines,” it added.
