THE Commission on Elections (Comelec) is a step closer to resolving one of several disqualification cases filed against presidential aspirant former senator Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr.
This after the Comelec Second Division ordered the camps of Marcos and the petitioners led by Fr Christian Buenafe to submit their memoranda.
“The parties are hereby given a period of five days from receipt of this order to file their respective memoranda in accordance with Comelec Resolution No. 10673,” said the Comelec Second Division in a five-page order.
“The case is deemed submitted for resolution after the lapse of the said period,” it also said.
The order comes after the poll body denied the bids of the camp of Marcos to have a face-to-face oral argument.
The Second Division also opted to deny the motion of the petitioners to have documents related to the income tax case of Marcos subpoenaed.
“It must be emphasized that the proceedings in a petition to deny to course and/or cancel a certificate of candidacy is summary in nature,” the Comelec explained.
“In this case, the preliminary conference had already been concluded. Accordingly, the case should now be submitted for resolution upon the receipt of both parties’ memoranda or upon the expiration of the period to do so,” it added.
The Comelec said granting the two motions of the opposing camps will only further delay the resolution of the case.
It can be recalled that the petition to deny due course to the certificate of candidacy of Marcos was raffled to the Second Division last November 8.
“The Commission (Second Division) finds that setting the case for clarificatory hearing and the addition of more evidence, including the subject of the subpoena prayed for by the Petitioners, are no longer necessary in the resolution of the case,” it said.
“Doing so would only result in unnecessary delay, which is inconsistent with the summary nature of this case,” added the Comelec.
In their petition against Marcos, Buenafe and his group asked the Comelec to cancel Marcos’ COC for making false representation in his COC when he did not mention his prior conviction for failure to file income tax returns from 1982 to 1985.
Buenafe’s group opined that Marcos’ conviction should prevent him from running for president and holding any position for public office.
Aside from the petition of Buenafe, six other petitions aiming to foil Marcos’ presidential bid have been filed at the Comelec.
PARTY-LIST GROUPS
The Comelec yesterday released the final list of party-list organizations in the official ballots to be used in the May 2022 polls.
In its official website, the Comelec posted the names of 166 party-list organizations and their corresponding number assignments in the official ballots.
First is the Kamalayan party-list group based on results of the December 14 raffle, and Buhay party-list is last, or No. 166.
Other prominent party-list groups are placed depending on the number drawn for them during the raffle, such as Bayan Muna (141), Ako Bicol (18), ACT-CIS (28), Magdalo (27), LPGMA (39), PBA (52), Gabriela (67), ACT Teachers (81), TUCO (88), Kabataan (95), 1-Pacman (161), and Akbayan (146).
In an earlier interview, Comelec spokesman James Jimenez said the party-list groups’ placing in the official ballots is without prejudice to the possibility of some groups being disqualified before the official ballots are printed.
In such instances, Jimenez said, the names of disqualified organizations as well as their respective numbers will be removed.
“Your spot in the list will essentially be filled by someone else but the numbers will not change,” he said.
“For example, we have party-list one, two, three, and four. Then number three is disqualified. Number four will go up in the ballots. The number will then be party-list one, two, and four,” he added.
To note, among the 166 party-lists in the raffle, 152 are registered party-lists while 14 groups still have pending applications for registration.
