Comelec so far received 91 DQ petitions

Comelec spokesperson James Jimenez (File photo from Philippine Daily Inquirer)

MANILA, Philippines — A total of 91 candidates for national posts, including presidential aspirant Ferdinand Marcos Jr., are facing petitions calling for the cancellation of their certificates of candidacy (COCs) in the Commission on Elections (Comelec).

“There are 91 petitions filed so far but the dockets of the [poll body’s two] divisions are full because there are other cases, not just for cancellation,” Comelec spokesperson James Jimenez said in a press briefing on Wednesday.

He confirmed that the petition filed last week seeking to cancel Marcos’ COC due to “misrepresentation” had already been raffled to the Comelec’s Second Division.

The division’s three members are expected to issue a summons to Marcos by Nov. 11, Jimenez said.

The petitioners, mostly activists during the dictatorship of Marcos’ father, former President Ferdinand Marcos, alleged that he failed to disclose in his COC his conviction for tax offenses in 1995, making him ineligible to run for public office under the National Internal Revenue Code.

A similar petition was filed this week by a group of taxpayers.

Based on its rules of procedure, the Comelec does not allow substitutions for an aspirant whose COC has been canceled.

The summons will give Marcos five days to respond to the petition. The division will call the parties involved to a conference and then give them three days to submit their memorandums summarizing their case. After that, the case will be submitted for resolution.

Under Rule 18 of the Comelec rules of procedure, the division has to make a decision within 10 days from the date the case is submitted for resolution.

Jimenez said that mainly, only documents would be presented before the poll body, adding that most of the time, there would be no need for a hearing unless commissioners wanted to question the parties involved.

Meanwhile, the Comelec wants to weed out 205 out of 299 aspirants for national posts for being nuisance candidates.

Elaiza David, Comelec education and information department assistant director, said that, of the 205, a total of 82 (out of 97) were running for president; 15 (out of 28) for vice president; and 108 (out of 174) for senator.