Akbayan files MR, wants Comelec to count Guanzon opinion on Marcos Jr. DQ cases

Akbayan partylist supporters. INQUIRER.net file photo / CHRISTIA MARIE RAMOS

MANILA, Philippines — The Akbayan Party-list on Tuesday urged the Commission on Elections (Comelec) to review the resolution dismissing the disqualification cases against Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr.

In filing a motion for reconsideration, the group reiterated that Marcos Jr, who is running for president in the upcoming May elections, committed a crime involving moral turpitude and thus, should be ineligible to seek any elective post.

Akbayan also pointed out that the Comelec may have violated its own rules when its First Division issued the resolution since the division only had two active commissioners at the time.

The party-list first nominee, Percival Cendaña, said in a statement: “The Comelec’s rules provide that a Division shall be composed of three commissioners. As such, the decision issued on the petitions may be void as it was issued by a Division that was not validly constituted, there being only two commissioners left. Had they issued the resolution when the Division was still validly constituted by three Commissioners, then it would have been a valid resolution.”

READ: Another disqualification petition filed against Bongbong Marcos

Akbayan also said in the same statement that the poll body should admit the points raised by recently retired Comelec Commissioner Rowena Guanzon in her separate opinion on the consolidated disqualification cases against Marcos Jr.

READ: Guanzon leaks her vote disqualifying Bongbong Marcos

READ: Comelec releases Guanzon’s separate opinion on DQ cases vs Marcos Jr.

Moreover, Akbayan said Comelec Commissioner Aimee Ferolino should inhibit herself from en banc deliberations on the motion for reconsideration.

The party-list first nominee second nominee, RJ Naguit, asserted that “her involvement in the serious accusations made by Commissioner Guanzon undermined her credibility and integrity.”

“We appeal to the sense of decency and integrity of Commissioner Ferolino to inhibit herself from further participation in this case,” he said in the statement.

INQUIRER.net has reached out to Ferolino for a comment on this call of Akbayan, but has yet to receive a response from her as of this posting.

To recall, Guanzon was the Comelec First Division’s presiding commissioner while Ferolino was the one who wrote the resolution for the consolidated disqualification cases against Marcos Jr.

Ferolino released the resolution more than a week after Guanzon’s retirement.

READ: Comelec’s Guanzon sets ultimatum for peer to release Marcos case resolution

READ: Guanzon out of Marcos DQ cases; no decision yet

“The fight is far from over,” said Cendaña in a statement. “His (Marcos Jr.) tax evasion conviction and his continuing attempts to deceive the public are stains that won’t wash away. These will haunt him throughout the campaign. We will pursue this to the end and ensure a just conclusion to the case.”

But Atty. Vic Rodriguez, spokesperson of Marcos Jr, criticized the petitioners, saying the resolution of the Comelec First Division proves that it is “them petitioners who are lying.”

“Matutuhan sana nilang magbigay respeto sa ating judicial at quasi-judicial bodies at tigilan na ang pang-aabuso sa ating mga korte at hukuman sa pamamagitan ng pagsasampa ng mga kasong pawang kasinungalingan lamang ang nilalaman,” he said in a statement.

(They should learn to respect our judicial and quasi-judicial bodies and stop abusing our courts by filing cases that contain nothing but lies.)

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