Petitioners appeal junked disqualification case vs Marcos
ILOCOS NORTE, Philippines — Petitioners seeking the disqualification of presidential aspirant Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. from the 2022 polls on Tuesday appealed the dismissal of the case, insisting that the survey frontrunner was convicted of a crime involving moral turpitude.
Two of the three petitioners whose case was dismissed by the Former First Division of the Commission on Election filed their separate motions for reconsideration, seeking the reversal of the February 10 resolution of poll body.
In a vote of 2-0, the Former First Division voted unanimously to dismiss the three consolidated disqualification petitions against Marcos, clearing him of the bulk of major legal challenges against his candidacy.
Like most of the petitions filed against Marcos, the disqualification pleas anchored their argument on the aspirant’s conviction of failure to file Income Tax Returns for four years. But the Comelec said the failure to file tax returns is not inherently immoral (mala in se), since it was only punished through the enactment of the Tax Code (mala prohibita), and is therefore not a crime involving moral turpitiude.
Comelec spokesperson James Jimenez earlier explained that “mala in se ("evil in itself") is a crime that is by itself is naturally wrong — for example, murder. You don’t need a law to tell you that murder is wrong, but there are some offenses that are mala prohibitum ("wrong because prohibited") which means they are considered wrong under the law only because special law exists to penalize it.”
Moral turpitude
Petitioners from the Campaign Against the Return of the Marcoses and Martial Law, represented by lawyer Howard Calleja, maintained that Marcos’ conviction was of a crime involving moral turpitude.
“With all due respect to the Honorable First Division, this oversimplification of the nature of the crimes involving moral turpitude—classifying the same as either mala in se or malum prohibitum is not on all fours as how moral turpitude is classified,” their motion read.
They also asserted that the jurisprudence cited by Comelec Commissioner Aimee Ferolino, ponente of the case, has been superseded by more recent ones.
“In Dela Torre v. Commission on Elections, where the Court said that the guidelines of classifying crimes mala in se involves moral turpitude while mala prohibita do not, falls short of providing a clear-cut solution,” they added.
“Simply put, whether a crime involves moral turpitude or not is a question of facts and circumstances and does not rely solely on the elements of the crime. That the Honorable First Division ruled that failure to file a tax return is not inherently wrong on the basis that it is merely mala prohibita disregards the baseness, and vileness, of a deliberate act of cheating the government of its lifeblood,” the petitioners also said.
They told the Comelec that Marcos’ failure to file his ITRs for four consecutive years is not merely an omission but shows “utter disregard of laws,” which he vowed to uphold as then chief executive of Ilocos Norte.
Invalid resolution
Petitioners from the Akbayan Citizen’s Party, meanwhile, said in their motion that the resolution of the former first division is null and void since it “was not issued by a validly-constituted Division of the Commission on Elections” since only two, and not three commissioners, composed the commission.
They pointed out that the Rules of Procedure of the Comelec held that each division of the commission, which will hear and decide petitions, “shall be composed of three petitioners.”
“The word used is ‘shall’, which clearly provides that three (3) Commissioners are needed to constitute a division. Two (2) Commissioners do not suffice to validly constitute a Division that could issue a resolution for the COMELEC,” their appeal read.
The 1993 Rules of Procedure of the Comelec, however, stated that when sitting in division, two members shall constitute a quorum to transact business, and two members concurring shall be necessary to reach a decision.
Supreme Court
Petitioners seeking Marcos’ disqualification, and a separate set of petitioners who sought for the cancellation of his Certificate of Candidacy, all vowed to take their case all the way to the Supreme Court.
Marcos remains the frontrunner, and enjoys a wide margin of lead over his rivals, in the Pulse Asia survey conducted late January, before the kickoff of national campaign set on February 8.
He and his running-mate Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte are set to meet supporters here in Ilocos Norte on Wednesday.
- Latest
- Trending
