The camp of presidential aspirant and former senator Bongbong Marcos dismissed the petition to disqualify him from the presidential race as ‘nuisance’ and mere propaganda.
Marcos spokesperson, Atty. Vic Rodriguez, said they will respond once they receive the official copy of the complaint.
“We shall address this predictable nuisance petition at the proper time and forum. Until then, we will refrain from commenting on their propaganda. Our camp does NOT engage in gutter politics,” he said in a statement.
A petition to disqualify by cancelling or denying the certificate of candidacy (COC) of Marcos has been filed at the Commission on Elections (Comelec).
The petition was filed by civic leaders on the grounds of Marcos’ 1997 tax conviction, among others.
The petitioners came from a group of human rights groups, political detainees, and medical societies opposing the Marcos dictatorship.
Based on Comelec rules, the deadline to file petitions to cancel COC is until November 2.
The poll body has the exclusive ground or authority to declare misrepresentation in the COC.
Petitioners asserted that Marcos’ court conviction makes him ineligible to run for president or any public office.
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.
The conviction was upheld by the Court of Appeals but he no longer appealed to the Supreme Court.
