13-0 vote clears hurdle to inauguration
THE Supreme Court yesterday cleared legal hurdles to the assumption of Ferdinand “Bongbong”Marcos Jr. as 17th president of the Philippines, dismissing by a 13-0 vote petitions for the cancellation of his certificate of candidacy and for disqualification filed by civic leaders and martial law survivors.
The ruling penned by Associate Justice Rodil Zalameda was issued two days before Marcos takes his oath at the National Museum in Manila, and on the day the tribunal confirmed that Chief Justice Alexander Gesmundo has agreed to administer the oath of office to Marcos.
“The court held that in the exercise of its power to decide the present controversy led them to no other conclusion but that respondent Marcos Jr. is qualified to run for and be elected to public office,” the SC Public Information Office (PIO) said in a brief statement.
“Likewise, his COC (certificate of candidacy), being valid and in accord with the pertinent law, was rightfully upheld by the Commission on Elections (Comelec),” it added.
The SC has yet to release a copy of the ruling. The PIO said the ruling will be uploaded on the SC website.
Two associate justices did not take part in the deliberation: Henri Jean Paul Inting whose sibling, Socorro Inting, is a Comelec commissioner, and Antonio Kho Jr. also a former Comelec commissioner.
The petitioners can still file a motion for reconsideration but they would face an uphill battle due to the near unanimous vote favoring Marcos Jr.
To recall, civic leaders led by Fr. Christian Buenafe and represented by former SC spokesperson Theodore Te sought to set aside Comelec resolutions dated the Jan. 17, 2022 and May 10, 2022, which denied their petitions against Marcos Jr. for lack of merit. The petitions were for the cancellation of his COC for the position of president, and for denying their motion for partial reconsideration.
They said Marcos’ COC should have been canceled by the poll body because of material misrepresentation when he said, under oath, that he is eligible to run for the presidency despite having been convicted of tax violations by the Quezon City Regional Trial Court.
This, they argued, disqualified him from running for the presidency.
On the other hand, the group of martial law survivors led by Saturnino Ocampo and Bonifacio Ilagan and represented by Howard Calleja urged the SC to disqualify Marcos Jr., saying his failure to file income tax returns from 1982 to 1985 amounted to moral turpitude.
They stressed that the National Internal Revenue Code imposes the penalty of perpetual disqualification on a government official found guilty of violating the country’s tax code.
The Court of Appeals affirmed the trial court’s decision against Marcos but modified the penalty by removing the seven-year imprisonment.
Marcos sought the dismissal of the petitions on the ground of lack of jurisdiction of the SC to hear the cases. He argued it is only the Presidential Electoral Tribunal (PET) which may inquire into his eligibility as he stressed that since the proclamation of the winning presidential and vice candidates in the May 9 polls is over, only the SC, sitting as the PET, is the sole judge of all contests relating to the qualification of a president.
He added that the petitions must also be dismissed for lack of merit since he did not commit any material misrepresentation in his COC.
Marcos also said he is not disqualified to run for the presidency and that he has no intention to mislead, misinform and deceive the electorate.
Lastly, Marcos said the petition “defiles the sovereign will of the Filipino people” who elected him with more than 31 million votes, making him the first president to obtain more than 50 percent of the votes cast in recent history.
Behind Marcos, Vice President Leni Robredo obtained only over 15 million votes.
SOLEMN PROGRAM
The inauguration at the National Museum will be “solemn and simple,” said Franz Imperial, one of the heads of the inauguration preparation committee.
“It would be very traditional dahil sabi ng ni BBM sa vlog niya ‘hindi kami lilihis pa sa tradisyon (because BBM said in his vlog that they ‘we will not divert from the tradition’),” Imperial said in a statement.
Imperial said TV personality Tony Gonzaga, who played emcee during most of Marcos’ campaign rallies, will sing the national anthem, while singer Cris Villonco and the Young Voices of the Philippines choir will perform the inauguration song “Pilipinas Kong Mahal.”
Imperial did not give details on the contents of Marcos inaugural speech but said that the president-elect will not need a teleprompter.
Details on the ecumenical invocation are still being finalized, Imperial added.
Interior Secretary Eduardo Año, in a press conference in Camp Crame, said the inauguration ceremony will take less than two hours.
It will start at around 10:50 a.m. and Marcos is expected to take his oath “at exactly 12 noon,” he said. The event will end after Marcos’ speech, he added.
Before the inauguration, a 30-minute civil and military parade will be held, to be participated in by about 2,200 troops.
Cadets from the Philippine Military Academy and the PNP Academy will join the parade alongside regular and special troops, said Brig. Gen. Marceliano Teofilo, commander of the Joint Task Force National Capital Region.
Teofilo said armored vehicles and artillery equipment will also join the parade, while a flyby of military assets will also be held.
The Metro Manila Development Authority said representatives of medical frontliners, overseas Filipino workers, athletes, agriculture and transportation sectors, metro aides, among others, will also participate in the parade.
NCRPO chief Brig. Gen. Felipe Natividad said around 1,250 VIPs are expected to attend the event.
The incoming heads of the Police Security and Protection Group and the Office of the President will be in charge of handling the heads of states who will attend the occasion.
VIPs will first proceed to the Philippine International Convention Center for screening before they will be transported on buses to the National Museum. — With Raymond Africa
