MANILA: The Commission on Elections has junked the remaining disqualification case against presidential candidate Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr., according to a decision released on Wednesday.
The Comelec First Division denied the petition seeking to block Marcos’ presidential bid due to “lack of merit”, according to the 29-page decision signed by Commissioners Socorro Inting, Aimee Ferolino and Aimee Torrefranca Neri.
Pudno Nga Ilocano asked the Comelec to disqualify the late dictator’s son and namesake due to his tax evasion conviction that supposedly made him ineligible for public office.
“As it now stands, Respondent possesses all the qualifications and none of the disqualification’s under the 1987 Constitution and relevant laws,” the poll body said.
Like its previous decision on other disqualification cases against Marcos Jr. last February, Comelec ruled that the former senator couldn’t be disqualified from the presidential race, as “failure to file an income tax return is not a crime involving moral turpitude.”
“If failure to file income tax return is considered alone, it would appear that it is not inherently wrong. This is supported by the fact that the filing of income tax return is only an obligation created by the law and the omission to do so is only considered as wrong because the law penalizes it,” Comelec said in its decision.
The poll body also disagreed with the petitioners that Marcos Jr. was convicted for a crime that carried a penalty of more than 18 months for which he should be disqualified from running for and holding any public office.
Comelec said the petitioners cited “inapplicable law,” and that the poll body has no power to amend or modify the decision that the Court of Appeals ruled on Marcos Jr.
“It is evident that Respondent paid his income tax through the withholding system, albeit not in full.
Even if his tax liability was not paid in full, the same was not done willfully by Respondent since, as the CA explained, it is the government’s obligation to withhold the income tax of Respondent and the latter had the right to rely on the computation of the taxes withheld,” the poll body ruled.
“Regardless of the fact that the non-filing of income tax return was done repeatedly by Respondent, there is still no tax evasion to speak of as no tax was actually unintentionally evaded,” it added.
Comelec also clarified that in Marcos Jr.’s case, the filing of income tax return is only for record purposes and not for the payment of his tax liabilities.
“He may have been neglectful in performing this obligation, it however does not reflect moral depravity,” the poll body further noted.
The presidential bid of Marcos, the survey frontrunner, was considered the most legally contested in the country’s recent election history.
His camp repeatedly said all the cases against him were “political trash,” lodged by “political assassins.”
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