Marcos camp to critics: Elections are won on Election Day, not by nuisance petitions

MANILA, Philippines — The camp of presidential aspirant Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. on Tuesday urged those seeking to disqualify him to respect and not take away the right of the Filipino people to choose their next leader.

Marcos’ chief-of-staff and spokesman Vic Rodriguez issued the remark after a sixth disqualification case was filed against the former senator.

He maintained that these cases are “nothing but nuisance cases” and “pathetic stunts.”

“We urge those who are behind these pathetic stunts to please respect the Filipino people and their democratic right to decide for themselves and their collective future,” he said in a statement.

“We also urge them not to remove the right of the people to freely choose their leader and stop looking down on the intelligence of the Filipino people,” he added.

“Elections are won and settled on Election Day and not through the filing of nuisance petitions,” Rodriguez continued.

He said all petitions filed before the Commission on Elections seeking to disqualify Marcos Jr. from the presidential race or cancel his certificate of candidacy are already being addressed by the former senator’s legal team.

A group of Ilocanos on Tuesday filed a petition to disqualify Marcos in the presidential derby in 2022, citing his tax-related convictions, which is not unlike the previous petitions.

Rodriguez earlier said the Marcos camp believes a group of people “full of hate” is behind the filing of disqualification cases against the son of late dictator Ferdinand Marcos Jr.