The Commission on Election’s (COMELEC) 1st Division has voted 2-0 in favor of dismissing the petitions seeking to disqualify the presidential candidacy of Ferdinand Marcos Jr.
The copy of the decision obtained by Rappler showed that the poll body junked the petitions but the decision remains to be appealable in COMELEC en banc.
The 43-page decision was promulgated on February 10. Parties have been given copies of the decision.
The ruling said that Marcos can still run for president amid his past tax case.
“The deprivation of one’s right to be voted for in any election should not be exercised whimsically and capriciously, lest we will be preventing qualified candidates from pursuing a position in public office,” the ruling written by Commissioner Aimee Ferolino.
Ferolino was previously lambasted by retired Commissioner Rowena Guanzon for supposedly delaying the decision.
Commissioner Marlon Casquejo also voted to junk the petition.
Both Ferolino and Casquejo were appointees of President Rodrigo Duterte.
The ruling found that Marcos is not guilty of moral turpitude.
“The failure to file tax returns is not inherently wrong in the absence of a law punishing it. The said omission became punishable only through the enactment of the Tax Code. Moreover, even the 1977 NIRC recognizes that failure to file income tax is not a grave offense as the violation thereof may be penalized only by a fine,” it said.
The petitions were filed by activist Boni Ilagan, Akbayan and a faction of the Partido Federal ng Pilipinas.
