BILANG PILIPINO | Comelec official suspects ‘political influence’ over delays in decision on Marcos’ disqualification

January 27, 2022 , 10:38 PM

By Clarist Zablan, News5 Digital

(January 27, 2022) – A Commission on Elections (Comelec) official, who will retire next week, on Thursday raised suspicions of some “political” interference which has delayed the resolution of the disqualification case against the son and namesake of the late Philippine dictator.

On Thursday, Commissioner Rowena Guanzon leaked to the press her decision to disqualify Ferdinand Marcos Jr on the grounds of moral turpitude when he deliberately failed to file his income tax returns as a local official in Ilocos Norte from 1982 to 1985. He even failed to pay the penalties imposed by a lower court which convicted him in 1995.

“It’s moral turpitude that he did not file for four years in that filing of income tax return, he did not pay taxes,” Guanzon told News5. “It’s repeated eh. Maybe if it’s only once because he had to flee the country that can be excused, but he did this four times and he was a governor of Ilocos Norte.”

Guanzon told News5 that she and two other commissioners had agreed to release on January 17 the first division’s ruling on the consolidated disqualification petitions against Marcos, a former senator seeking the presidency.

But suddenly, the commissioner, Aimee Ferolino, tasked to write the first division’s decision became incommunicado because a lawyer in her office contracted coronavirus disease and she had to be isolated for 10 days.

Seventeen days after the deadline, Guanzon suspected there were some political forces who were trying to influence the division’s decision after she informed her two colleagues of her vote to disqualify Marcos.

She said she tried reaching out through a text message but never got a reply. Another commissioner also tried to call Ferolina but she never responded. The Comelec chair also tried reaching out.

“What’s the big mystery there?” Guanzon said. “This case is so easy. There’s so many admissions there in the transcript, so it’s easy to decide this case. What’s so hard about this case? We thought there was political influence. They’re delaying it so that my vote will not be counted because I am retiring.”

The division is deciding on three of the four disqualification petitions against Marcos – filed by party list Akbayan, screenwriter and Martial Law survivor Bonifacio Ilagan, and Abubakar Mangelen from a faction of PFP – over his failure to file income tax returns from 1982 to 1985.

(MM | With reports from Jen Calimon, News5)

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