Ilocano group also seeks Marcos' disqualification from presidential race
MANILA, Philippines — Presidential candidate Bongbong Marcos is facing a new petition to stop him from running for president, this time from a group representing Ilocanos, among whom the Marcos camp claims to have established a "solid North" base of supporters.
As in other pleas with the Comelec, petitioners pointed to Marcos' 1995 conviction over his failure to file his income taxes for four consecutive years.
According to Pudno Nga Ilokano, this failure demonstrates the Marcos scion's "willful intent" to evade the payment of taxes, which the group said is tantamount to "moral turpitude."
"Petitioners band together with the common desire to uphold the rule of law and invoke its power to resist the illegal attempt of respondent to run for president of the Philippines and to re-establish the abusive Marcos family and their cohorts' control of its government and its people," the petition reads.
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Marcos is also facing two other petitions for disqualification filed by civic groups and survivors of his father's bloody Martial Law regime.
A former chairperson of Marcos' political party, Partido Federal ng Pilipinas, has also filed a petition for declaration of nullity of the Certificate of Nomination and Acceptance, which would also lead to his disqualification.
In a statement issued later Monday, the Marcos camp said the petitions were "being addressed" by their legal team.
"While we maintain that these petitions are nothing but nuisance cases, we urge those who are behind these pathetic stunts to please respect the Filipino people and their democratic right to decide for themselves and their collective future," lawyer Victor Rodriguez, Marcos' spokesperson, said.
Section 4 of the Bill of Rights in the 1987 Constitution provides for the "right of the people peaceably to assemble and petition the government for redress of grievances."
— Franco Luna with a report from Kristine Joy Patag
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