Reverse division ruling favoring Marcos, Comelec en banc asked

A CIVIC group on Monday asked the Commission on Elections (Comelec) to reconsider its decision allowing the only son and namesake of the late dictator Ferdinand E. Marcos to run for President this year.

In a 28-page motion, lawyer Theodore O. Te, who represents Kapatid, said the law bars former Senator Ferdinand “Bongbong” R. Marcos from running for public office after he was convicted of tax evasion in the 1990s.

The plaintiffs asked the Comelec en banc to reverse the order of a division that favored Mr. Marcos in the election lawsuit.

“The accessory penalty of perpetual disqualification from holding public office, to vote and to participate in any election is a consequence that is deemed written into the conviction of respondent Marcos, Jr.,” they said. Comelec must enforce the judgment issued by the Court of Appeals, they added.

The election body’s Second Division rejected the petition last week, as it ruled Mr. Marcos did not mislead the public when he said in his certificate of candidacy that he was eligible to run for president.

The plaintiffs said the Second Division’s decision had an adversarial and confrontational tone.

Mr. Marcos’s name should be excluded from official ballots, whose printing has started, pending a final ruling from the Comelec full court, Fides Lim, spokesperson for Kapatid, told One News.

The election body’s First Division has yet to rule on similar cases against Mr. Marcos. — John Victor D. Ordoñez