NEXT MOVE | Petitioners must find stronger proof to push for Marcos’ disqualification, says lawyer

February 11, 2022 , 09:56 AM

By Beatrice Puente

(February 11, 2022) – Petitioners seeking the disqualification of presidential candidate Bongbong Marcos Jr. must present more compelling evidence to prove that he was still a government officer when he failed to file his taxes to convince the Commission on Elections (Comelec) to overturn the ruling, a lawyer said on Thursday.

Atty. Buko Dela Cruz admitted that it is “highly likely” for the Comelec to stand by the decision unless the petitioners can present new proof that would be strong enough to push the disqualification of the late dictator’s son in the 2022 elections.

“Kung mapapatunayan nila na si Marcos was still a public officer at that time, at ‘di sya nag-file (ng tax return), covered na siya ng perpetual disqualification. That’s a point ‘pag inakyat ‘yung apela sa (Comelec) en banc or Supreme Court,” said Dela Cruz on Frontline Tonight.

After a long delay, the Comelec released the ruling to junk the disqualification case against Marcos on Thursday. Both commissioners Aimee Ferolino and Marlon Casquejo of the First Division concurred with the decision. The separate opinion of Rowena Guanzon, who recently retired and agreed with the disqualification of Marcos, was not counted anymore.

Ferolino wrote that the amendments in the 1977 National Internal Revenue Code (NIRC), which specifies the perpetual disqualification clause, no longer apply to Marcos since it only took effect in 1986. Marcos did not file and pay his taxes from 1982 to 1985 when he was still the governor of Ilocos Norte.

“The failure to file tax returns is not inherently wrong in the absence of a law punishing it. The said omission became punishable only through the enactment of the Tax Code. Moreover, even the 1977 NIRC recognizes that failure to file income tax is not a grave offense,” read a portion of the decision.

Marcos, the standard-bearer of Partido Federal ng Pilipinas, was found guilty for not filing and not paying his taxes by a Quezon City Court in 1995. He was supposed to serve a jail term but the Court of Appeals lifted the sanction, although the guilty conviction remained.

“Doon sa (apat na) dapat niyang i-file, meron doon ‘yung 1985 na tax return, ang filing kasi noon ay March 1986. So, ‘yung isang ‘yun, dahil March 1986 dapat finile, covered na nung batas na may pataw na perpetual disqualification. Isang argumento ito na puwedeng buksan sa apela,” said Dela Cruz.

Both Akbayan and the Campaign Against the Return of the Marcoses and Martial Law (CARMMA) intend to elevate the case to the Comelec en banc. They can file an appeal before the Supreme Court afterward if the decision remains.

CARMMA blasted the ruling, saying that the crime committed by Marcos was “inherently wrong” as it happened four times.

“Such intent undeniably demonstrated a crime involving moral turpitude, and Marcos Jr. should be disqualified. By allowing him to run as president in the upcoming elections, commissioners Ferolino and Casquejo have sided with the brazen lies and crimes of the Marcoses,” said the group.

(PM)

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