Bongbong Marcos says he’s happy ruling came before May 9 polls
(Eagle News) – The last disqualification case filed against presidential bet Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr., has been recently dismissed by the Commission on Elections (Comelec) for lack of merit
The Comelec’s first division presided by Commissioner Socorro Inting and with members, Commissioners Aimee Ferolino and Aimee Torrefranca-Neri, junked the last disqualification case filed by a group called Pudno nga Ilokano
“Wherefore, premises considered, the instant Petition is hereby denied for lack of merit,” the 29-page decision read.
As with the other disqualification cases against Marcos Jr., it is based on his failure to file his income tax returns from 1982 to 1985 when he was serving his first term as governor of Ilocos Norte.
-Comelec: No moral turpitude in failure to file ITR-
The Comelec ruling said that “if failure to file income tax return is considered alone, it would appear that it is not inherently wrong.”
“This is supported by the fact that the filing of income tax return is only an obligation created by law and the omission to do so is only considered as wrong because the law penalized it,” it said.
“Nonetheless, we find it more prudent to make our own assessment to remove all doubts and finally resolve the controversy. An assiduous study of the records and relevant jurisprudence yields to a conclusion that there is no moral turpitude in this case,” the Comelec ruling added.
-Time to work for clean elections, says Marcos camp-
The Marcos camp welcomed the decision.
“It’s a good development and we’re happy that it happened before the upcoming elections,” said former senator Marcos who is currently leading various surveys on presidentiables.
His lawyer, Atty. Vic Rodriguez, said that the Comelec ruling had “affirmed and settled the last petition for disqualification.”
With the decision, he said it was clear that Marcos “possesses all the qualifications needed to aspire for, campaign and serve as president of the Republic of the Philippines,” he said in a statement.
“It is now time for every peace-loving Filipino to work for a clean, honest, credible and fair elections, and allow the people to speak, their voices heard and votes genuinely counted,” he said.
The Comelec’s announcement of the junking of the last disqualification case against Marcos came about 20 days before the May 9 polls.
Marcos Jr., has recently been topping various surveys on the 2022 presidential bets, while Vice-President Leni Robredo comes as a distant second in the same surveys.
The latest is OCTA Research’s “Tugon ng Masa” survey conducted from April 2 to 6, where Marcos recorded 57 percent preference votes out of the 1,200 polled. Notably, his score was even higher than the previous 55 percent preference votes which he got in the February 12 to 17 survey.
Robredo, on the other hand, was second with with 22 percent preference votes.
(Eagle News Service)