An official of the Commission on Elections (Comelec) announced that it included the name of the presidential aspirant and former senator Ferdinand Bongbong Marcos Jr. on the overseas ballot for the May 2022 elections.
Comelec Director Elaiza Sabile David announced this on Monday after the Comelec Second Division rejected a petition requesting the cancellation of Marcos’ certificate of candidacy (COC) in the 2022 elections.
The Second Division of the Comelec declared that Bongbong Marcos had not committed misrepresentation in submitting his COC.
“The official list is finalized. His (Marcos) name is there [sa balota para sa overseas voting],” said David.
David said an estimated 1.7 million registered overseas Filipino voters for the upcoming elections.
They will vote for presidential candidates, vice presidents, senators, and party-list groups.
“The overseas ballot which only lists national candidates is 25 inches,” the official said.
Three petitions against Marcos have been dismissed, while there are still three-despite questioning the court’s decision on the former senator’s alleged violation of the Tax Code when he failed to submit income tax returns from 1982 to 1985 locally that he is still an official of Ilocos Norte.
Bongbong Marcos’ name included on the ballot for Filipino voters abroad
In a resolution, Comelec’s second division said Bongbong Marcos’ representations in his certificate of candidacy, which the petitioners are questioning, are “not false.” The petitioners insisted that the son of dictator Ferdinand Marcos’ tax conviction in the 1990s should disqualify him from running for public office.
“Consequently, the representations of Respondent Marcos Jr. in his certificate of candidacy that he is eligible to be elected to the office of the President of the Philippines and that he has not been found liable for an offense which carries with it the accessory penalty of perpetual disqualification from holding public office are NOT FALSE,” the Comelec division said.
“Thus, there is no legal justification to deny due course to or cancel the certificate of candidacy of Respondent Marcos Jr.,” it added.
According to the counsel of the petitioners’ lawyer Theodore Te, they would file reconsideration with the Commission en banc within the five days as provided by the rules.
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