BILANG PILIPINO | Comelec official refutes Guanzon’s allegations on deliberately delaying decision on Marcos’ cases

January 28, 2022 , 08:18 PM

By Clarist Zablan

(January 28, 2022) – A Commission on Elections (Comelec) official on Friday refuted a colleague’s allegation that she was causing delays in the disqualification case against a presidential aspirant.

She also said the colleague’s bombshell on leaking her vote was an attempt to “influence” her.

Commissioner Aimee Ferolino said Rowena Guanzon, the presiding commissioner of the first division, forced the members of the division, her included, to release the resolution on the petition against Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr by January 17.

Ferolino said she has been working within timelines, and the period of 15 days for the ponencia to draft a resolution can only be applied to a single case, not for a case that consolidated three petitions.

“Why rush, when this Commission decides cases on the merits and not for publicity or to accommodate and please anybody or somebody,” Ferolino said in a letter to Comelec chair Sheriff Abas. “This case should be treated as any other cases before the Commission where the resolutions are carefully studied, reviewed, and thought of.”

She also said Guanzon told her to adopt her opinion, and believed that the presiding commissioner wrote her separate opinion before she submitted the draft resolution as the ponencia to influence her decision.

“She is trying to influence my decision and trying hard to persuade me to her direction,” Ferolino said. “But I am not like her, not even close. I did not read her separate opinion as I do not want my judgment to be influenced by her opinion nor other people’s opinion.”

Ferolino requested Abas to review Guanzon’s media appearances, noting that her disclosure breached the sub judice rule.

Responding to Ferolino’s letter, Guanzon said that the decision can be written in three days after the memorandum is transmitted because all facts have already been admitted.

Why did I have a Separate Opinion on Jan 17? Because I think and write fast. How many days do u need to write a decision when all facts are admitted? I did it in 3 days

— Rowena Guanzon (@rowena_guanzon) January 28, 2022

On Thursday, Guanzon leaked to the press that she voted in favor of disqualifying Marcos Jr, as she believed that he committed a crime of moral turpitude over his tax conviction.

She also raised suspicions that a “political influence” was causing delays in the resolution of his cases to prevent her vote from being counted, after Ferolino went incommunicado to the commission. Guanzon is set to retire next week.

Lawyer George Briones, the general counsel of Marcos Jr’s party Partido Federal ng Pilipinas (PFP), accused Guanzon of “illegal” acts when she publicized her vote before the decision on the petitions came out.

The first division handled three of the four petitions seeking to disqualify Marcos Jr from running for presidency, over his failure to file income tax returns in 1982 to 1985. The cases were filed by Akbayan Partylist, screenwriter and Martial Law survivor Bonifacio Ilagan, and Abubakar Mangelen from a faction of PFP.

(MM)

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