Comelec office in Intramuros, Manila. FILE PHOTO
MANILA, Philippines — The decision on the appeals against the dismissal of disqualification cases against presidential candidate former Sen. Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. may be out before May 9, Commission on Elections (Comelec) Commissioner George Garcia said on Thursday.
Garcia, in a press briefing, said it is the Comelec’s commitment that the three consolidated appeals and another appeal filed before the Comelec en banc may be solved within the time period.
It can be recalled that Comelec chairman Saidamen Pangarungan said that five commissioners have already signed the en banc’s resolution on the appeals. Two members of the en banc — including the chairman himself — have not signed the resolution yet.
“Di ba nung Thursday sabi ni Chairman, dalawa na lang daw silang hindi nakakapirma? So siguro simula noon, I do not want to speculate, pero sa kanya naman nanggaling yung sinabi niya na dalawa na lang silang hindi nakapirma, kasama siya. So hopefully baka nakapirma na yung isa, so baka naman yung isa na lang ang hindi nakakapirma doon sa resolution,” Garcia pointed out.
(Chairman actually said on Thursday that only two of them had not signed, right? So maybe from then on, I do not want to speculate but he said so himself that only the two of them have yet to sign. So hopefully the other one has already signed, so maybe we are only waiting for a signature of one person in the resolution.)
“Bago naman mag-eleksyon ang (Before the election the) commitment is, the decision will be released before the election,” he added.
The en banc will vote on the appeals filed by Akbayan party-list; Abubakar Mangelen, chairman of the Partido Federal ng Pilipinas faction; and the Campaign Against the Return of the Marcoses and Martial Law after their petitions were dismissed by the Comelec’s First Division.
The fourth appeal is on the junked disqualification case filed by group Pudno Nga Ilocano.