Information regarding the three petitions pending before the Commission on Elections First Division against the presidential candidacy of former Senator Ferdinand Marcos Jr. may not be made public without clearance, poll body spokesman James Jimenez said Tuesday.
This developed as the presidential aspirant asked the Comelec to dismiss the disqualification petition filed by a group of Ilocano martial law survivors for lack of merit.
In their 24-page answer to the petition for disqualification, Marcos’ camp argued that the former lawmaker was never convicted by final judgment of a crime involving moral turpitude.
Even if Marcos was convicted of a crime involving moral turpitude, the disqualification has long been automatically removed, their statement added.
“These cases being pendente lite (during litigation), copy and content of the Answers may not be shared with the public without clearance from the First Division,” Jimenez said.
“We can, however, provide general info on these cases as soon as they become available,” he added.
Comelec Commissioner Rowena Guanzon, a member of the First Division, last week told lawyers in the petitions against Marcos to stop disclosing details on the three pending cases.
The cases which will be deliberated in the Comelec First Division include the petition filed by Bonifacio Ilagan Campaign Against the Return of the Marcoses and Martial Law (CARMMA) and religious and youth rights advocates; the petition filed by Akbayan Citizens’ Action Party; and the petition filed by Abubakar Mangelen claiming to be the duly-elected chairman of the PFP and that the CONA issued to Marcos Jr. is “unauthorized, defective, invalid and void.”
But the presidential aspirant’s camp further noted that Marcos was never sentenced by final judgment to a penalty of more than 18 months of imprisonment nor sentenced to a penalty of prision correccional.
Marcos’ conviction for failing to file tax returns did not disqualify him from holding any public office, his camp claimed, saying Section 286 of the 1977 National Internal Revenue Code is not applicable in his case.
Even if the section was applicable, Marcos’ camp said the former senator was still not disqualified from holding public office because the penalty of disqualification is not “ipso facto” imposed upon the mere fact of conviction, and neither the Regional Trial Court nor the Court of Appeals imposed the penalty.
Lastly, Marcos’ camp said the presidential aspirant should be covered by the retroactive effect of Republic Act 10963 or the Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion (TRAIN) law, which decriminalized the non-filing of an annual income tax return by pure compensation income earners.
Early this month, Pudno Nga Ilokano (Ang Totoong Ilokano) filed the fourth disqualification case against Marcos, citing the latter’s conviction on tax-related cases in 1995.
Petitioners in the latest disqualification case filed against Marcos include Margarita Salonga Salandanan, Crisanto Ducusin Palabay, Mario Flores Ben, Danilo Austria Consumido, Raoul Hafalla Tividad, Nida Mallare Gatchallan, and Nomer Calulot Kuan.
Last week, the Comelec issued Marcos a summons over the petition filed by the group.