An anti-Martial Law group has filed a petition urging the Supreme court to issue a temporary restraining order (TRO) to stop Congress from canvassing votes and proclaiming presumptive president Ferdinand 'Bongbong' Marcos Jr.
In their petition, the Campaign Against the Return of the Marcoses and Martial Law asked the high court to overturn the decision made by the Commission on Elections (COMELEC) to dismiss the petitions to disqualify Marcos' certificate of candidacy (COC) from the presidential race.
Based on the latest partial and unofficial tally, Marcos is ahead in the presidential race with 31,104,175 votes.
"Elections are more than a numbers game. The will of the people expressed through the ballot cannot cure the vice of ineligibility. The balance must always tilt in favor of upholding and enforcing the law," said the petitioners, led by Fr. Christian Buenafe, co-chair of Task Force Detainees of the Philippines.
The group also reiterated how Marcos Jr. failed to file his income tax returns during his four-year stint as vice governor and governor of Ilocos Norte from 1982 to 1985.
"It shows an utter disregard of the laws which, as chief executive of the province of Ilocos Norte, respondent convicted candidate Marcos, Jr. took an oath to uphold. It is the repeated, deliberate, willful, and intentional violation of the tax code that makes such violation a crime involving moral turpitude," the petition read.
