Convicted tax evader
COC NI BBM IPINAKAKANSELA SA COMELEC

ni  ROSE NOVENARIO

CONVICTED tax evader ang anak ng diktador at dating Sen. Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos, Jr., kaya’t hindi siya puwedeng maging presidential bet sa 2022 elections.

“Marcos is not eligible to run for any public office as he is, plainly, a convicted criminal,” ayon sa political detainees, human rights at medical organizations sa 57 pahinang Petition to Cancel or Deny Due Course the COC laban kay Marcos.

Giit ng mga petitioner, naglalaman ang COC ni Marcos ng ‘multiple false material representations.’

“Specifically, Marcos falsified his Certificate of Candidacy (COC) when he claimed that he was eligible to be a candidate for President of the Philippines in the 2022 national elections when in fact he is disqualified from doing so,” nakasaad sa inilabas na pahayag.

Sinabi ng mga petitioner na hindi dapat tumakbo si Marcos dahil sa tax evasion conviction noong 1995 dahil sa kabiguang maghain ng kaniyang income tax returns (ITR) noong siya’y gobernador at bise-gobernador ng Ilocos Norte mula 1982 hanggang 1984.

Batay sa Rule 23 ng Comelec, ang tanging batayan para sa petisyon upang kanselahin ang COC ay “any material representation contained therein as required by law is false.”

Batayan sa diskalipikasyon ang pagiging convicted sa anomang “crime involving moral turpitude.”

Nakasaad sa petisyon na ay may pagkakautang si Marcos sa gobyerno na P203.8 bilyon estate tax.

“This massive P203.8 billion is the Filipino peoples’ hard-earned money lost.”

Kabilang sa petitioners sina Father Christian Buenafe ng Task Force Detainees; Fides Lim ng Kapatid; Ma. Edeliza Hernandez ng Medical Action Group; Celia Lagman Sevilla ng Families of Victims of Involuntary Disappearance; Roland Vibal ng Philippine Alliance of Human Rights; at Josephine Lascano ng Balay Rehabilitation Center.

Ang abogado ng petitioners ay si Theodore Te, isang human rights lawyer mula sa Free Legal Assistance Group at dating spokesperson ng Supreme Court.