LIST: Petitions against Bongbong Marcos' 2022 presidential bid

Published Dec 9, 2021, 10:16:01 AM

Updated May 17, 2022, 2:00:00 PM

Metro Manila (CNN Philippines)— Two petitions seeking to void the candidacy of presumptive president Ferdinand Marcos, Jr. have been elevated to the Supreme Court, while other appeals have been dismissed by the Commission on Elections en banc or its divisions.

Over the past months, different groups have filed their pleas before the Commission on Elections to prevent the son and namesake of the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos from retaking Malacañang. They are the following:

1. Buenafe, et al. vs Marcos: Petition to cancel Certificate of Candidacy

Status: Pending at Supreme Court

On Nov. 2, a group of civic leaders led by priest Christian Buenafe of the Task Force Detainees of the Philippines and Fides Lim of political prisoners' group KAPATID filed a petition against Marcos, arguing that he was not qualified to run as he was convicted by a Quezon City court for his multiple failures to file income tax returns from 1982 to 1985 when he was governor and vice governor of Ilocos Norte.

The petitioners argued that Marcos committed a crime of moral turpitude and perjury for making false representations in his COC on his eligibility to seek the presidency despite his tax conviction. Theodore Te, a former Supreme Court spokesperson, serves as lead counsel for the group.

Comelec’s Second Division on Jan. 17 dismissed the petition and ruled that there was no ground to cancel Marcos' COC on the ground of material misrepresentation. Te's camp then formally asked the Comelec en banc to reverse the decision which supposedly showed "possible grave abuse of discretion amounting to manifest bias on the part of its participants.”

The Comelec en banc junked the appeal on May 10, a day after the elections wherein Marcos received an overwhelming 31 million votes.

The petitioners on May 17 asked the high court to void Marcos' candidacy and issue a temporary restraining order to stop Congress from canvassing votes for the presidential elections pending decision.

It would effectively prevent Congress, sitting as the National Board of Canvassers, from proclaiming Marcos as the next president should he be adjudged to be the one with the highest number of votes.

They also want the high court to cancel and declare void ab initio or void from the start Marcos’ certificate of candidacy, completely invalidating his presidential run and all the 31,104,175 votes he received based on the unofficial count be labeled as stray votes.

They said the second-placer, who is actually the first-placer among the qualified candidates, should be proclaimed president. Marcos' archrival, Vice President Leni Robredo, placed far second in the race with 14.8 million votes.

The SC ordered all respondents — Marcos, Comelec, and Congress — to comment on the petition within 15 days from notice.

Bautista, et al. vs Marcos: Petition-in-intervention in cancellation plea

Status: Dismissed

Civil society groups and professionals led by Dr. Rommel Bautista filed on Nov. 8 a petition-in-intervention through lawyer Howard Calleja to join in the previously submitted plea, since the period to file petitions to cancel a COC has already lapsed. The group also cited Marcos’ tax conviction, but argued that a violation of the tax code imposes perpetual disqualification from public office.

Marcos’ allies separately filed an answer-in-intervention — one from Partido Federal ng Pilipinas and another one from Marcos' spokesperson Vic Rodriguez, PFP president Reynaldo Tamayo, and secretary general Thomson Lantion — calling to dismiss the petition.

On Dec. 13, the poll body rejected these three interventions altogether and declared that it will no longer entertain similar submissions in the future that would "unduly delay" the status of the main plea.

2. Tiburcio Marcos vs Marcos: Petition to cancel COC

Status: Dismissed, period for filing of appeal has lapsed

Tiburcio Marcos, an independent presidential aspirant at the time, filed a petition seeking to cancel his rival’s bid, claiming that the latter already died and was replaced by an impostor who filed a COC in his stead. The Comelec informed the media about the case on Nov. 18. The petition was also raffled off to the poll body’s Second Division nearly a week later.

The former senator’s camp filed a petition asking Comelec to declare Tiburcio a nuisance candidate, noting that his inclusion in the official list would only confuse voters. Tiburcio was eventually declared a nuisance bet and was removed from the list of official candidates.

Comelec spokesperson James Jimenez announced on February 8 that the case has officially been dismissed.

3. Lihaylihay vs Marcos: Petition to declare as nuisance candidate

Status: Dismissed, under appeal

Danilo Lihaylihay, another presidential aspirant, sought to block Marcos’ candidacy by filing a petition to declare him as a nuisance candidate. He filed his plea as early as Oct. 11, five days after Marcos filed his COC. The Comelec notified the media about the petition on Nov. 18.

Comelec’s Second Division, however, denied the petition a month after, saying Lihaylihay's evidence is "grossly insufficient considering that the COC it sought to cancel was not even attached to the petition." The case has been elevated to the en banc for reconsideration.

The poll body also noted that Marcos has “sufficiently established” that he has a bona fide intention to run for president.

4. Ilagan et al, Akbayan et al, Mangelen vs Marcos: Consolidated petitions to disqualify

Status: Dismissed by Comelec en banc, CARMMA files petition before Supreme Court

Bonifacio Ilagan led human rights advocates and martial law victims from the Organizers of the Campaign Against the Return of the Marcoses and Martial Law (CARMMA) in filing the first petition to disqualify the presidential aspirant on Nov. 17.

The petitioners alleged that Marcos’ misrepresentation in his COC when he declared that he was never found guilty of any offense despite his tax conviction carries the accessory penalty of perpetual disqualification from holding public office.

The group initially asked Comelec to disqualify Marcos from the race and cancel his COC as president, but that petition was withdrawn and refiled to only limit the plea to disqualification.

Members of the Akbayan Citizens Action Party and other human rights advocates also cited Marcos’ tax conviction in the second disqualification petition against his bid.

The petition, filed on Dec. 2, cited a 2012 Supreme Court decision, saying the high tribunal held that the election body bears the constitutional duty to prevent candidates who are perpetually disqualified, like Marcos, from running repeatedly for public office.

National Commission on Muslim Filipinos Commissioner Abubakar Mangelen, who claims to be chairman of Marcos' political party, Partido Federal ng Pilipinas, filed the sixth petition on Dec. 2, arguing that Marcos did not follow the party guidelines since he was not a member of the party and his endorsement was a "big shock" to some officers and members of the PFP.

Marcos is the standard bearer of PFP after he was appointed chairman in October. The party’s secretary general, Gen. Thompson Lantion, previously said that Mangelen was ousted from the party at its convention in September.

The three consolidated pleas were dismissed by the Comelec First Division for lack of merit. Petitioners said they will be appealing the decision.

The Comelec en banc also rejected the petition on May 10.

On May 18, CARMMA went to the Supreme Court to file a petition for certiorari seeking to reverse the Comelec’s dismissal of the petitions.

The group also sought a temporary restraining order to stop Congress from canvassing the votes of Marcos.

5. Salandanan et al. vs. Marcos: Petition to disqualify

Status: Dismissed, appeal to be filed

The fourth disqualification plea came from members of Pudno Nga Ilokano, a group of Ilocanos claiming that the so-called “Solid North” does not exist anymore. The group, led by Margarita Salandanan and represented by legal counsel Paolo Santiago, filed the petition on Dec. 7.

The group also cited Marcos' tax conviction and argued that he was penalized with perpetual special disqualification from the right of suffrage, which bars him from running for president in the 2022 elections. The poll body's first division dismissed the case on April 20 due to "lack of merit."

The group said it will file its motion for reconsideration on Monday, April 25.

‘Nuisance’

Marcos' camp repeatedly dismissed the petitions as nothing but "nuisance cases."

Marcos is represented by former solicitor general Estelito Mendoza, who previously defended martial law under his father's regime. The veteran lawyer also got President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, Sen. Bong Revilla, and former Sen. Juan Ponce Enrile out of detention from their plunder cases.

In late December, the presidential hopeful also tapped another set of lawyers to handle the disqualification cases filed against him. The new counsel comes from M & Associates, the law firm of his wife Louise.

Retired Supreme Court Senior Associate Justice Antonio Carpio earlier said following an en banc decision, cases on appeal can still be escalated all the way to the High Court.

While the petitions have all hurdled the Comelec division level, the en banc has yet to promulgate the cases that were on appeal.

"The Comelec en banc is trying its best to immediately release and promulgate a resolution of these cases," Comelec Commissioner George Garcia said on Friday.

CNN Philippines' Glee Jalea and Melissa Lopez contributed to this report.