By Ferdinand Patinio | Philippine News Agency
MANILA – The Commission on Elections (Comelec) will tackle the petition seeking to cancel the Certificate of Candidacy (COC) of presidential aspirant Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr.
Comelec spokesperson James Jimenez said a hearing will be conducted that will determine if there is indeed a misrepresentation committed by the former senator.
“Well, definitely there will be hearings about that since the point of the cancellation petition, there was a material misrepresentation in COC (certificate of candidacy). This means that there was untruthfulness or wrong information given to the COC so that needs to be proven,” Jimenez said in a telephone interview on Wednesday (Nov. 3).
Asked who will handle the case, the poll body official said: “Let’s wait for the announcement of the hearing because again at this point this is a live case we cannot go into too many details.”
“Cancelation of COC is based on material misrepresentation and a disqualification has broader grounds. If I’m not mistaken cancelation (petition) has been filed,” he added.
Jimenez said he cannot predict how long the hearing will last since both parties are expected to defend themselves.
“There is no time limit. The claims of the complainants have to be proven and the candidate will also have to defend himself. It would take as long as it takes but of course, we want to expedite the resolution of the case,” he said.
Asked if the decision will be out before the campaign period, the Comelec spokesperson said, “We will find out.”
On Tuesday (Nov. 2), petitioners Fr. Christian Buenafe, Fides Lim, Ma. Edeliza Hernandez, Celia Lagman Sevilla, Roland Vibal, and Josephine Lascano, filed a petition to cancel Marcos’ COC for containing multiple false material representations.
They said Marcos was convicted by the Regional Trial Court of Quezon City in a July 27, 1995 decision “for his multiple failures to file income tax returns”.
They also claimed that the Court of Appeals upheld the decision which was no longer appealed before the Supreme Court, “thereby becoming a final and unappealable conviction”.
The Petition to Cancel or Deny Due Course was filed under Section 78 in relation to Section 74, Article IX of the Omnibus Election Code (OEC).
The petitioners noted that Marcos is not eligible to run for any public office because he was convicted.
Earlier on Wednesday, lawyer Victor Rodriguez, Marcos’ spokesperson, said they would address “this predictable nuisance petition” at the proper time and forum after they have received the official copy. (PNA) – bny
