The Commission on Elections (Comelec) will likely reach a decision on the petition seeking to cancel the certificate of candidacy of presidential aspirant Ferdinand 'Bongbong' Marcos Jr. by December.
"Well it's probably going to be something around December because right now we are already ending the first week of November," Comelec spokesman James Jimenez said in an interview.
Jimenez said scheduling will be considered in processing cancellation pleas.
"There is the question of when they will actually receive the summon because receipt of summoning is what tolls the period, right? So it can run into a few weeks," he added.
A pre-conference will then be held on the case, and both parties will be given three days to submit their respective memoranda until the matter will be deemed up for resolution.
"With five days to answer and three days to submit the memoranda, that's already one week (of November) gone. And then you have to talk about the schedule, so I'm estimating may be late December," Jimenez explained.
On Tuesday, several groups comprising of human rights and health rights advocates and political detainees said the late dictator's son and namesake is not qualified to run for public office "as he is, plainly, a convicted criminal."
In July 1995, Marcos was convicted by the Quezon City Regional Trial Court Branch 15 for his failure to file income tax returns and pay income taxes from 1982 to 1985. He was then sentenced to serve a total of seven years in prison and ordered to pay a fine for several counts of violation of the National Internal Revenue Code (NRIC).
He appealed to the Court of Appeals (CA), which ruled on October 31, 1997, to uphold the conviction but modified the penalty by deleting the prison term and merely imposing a fine.
However, according to the group, the crime that Marcos did "involves moral turpitude, thereby disqualifying him under the Omnibus Election Code to be a candidate and to hold any public office."
They also noted that Marcos' COC contains "multiple false material representations," one of which when he declared under oath that he has never been found liable of any offense.
In a statement, the camp of Marcos called the petition to disqualify his candidacy as obvious "propaganda."
In an interview with dzRH's Damdaming Bayan, Marcos' spokesman Atty. Vic Rodriguez said they will respond once they receive the official copy of the complaint filed before the Commission on Elections (Comelec) on Tuesday.
"We will refrain from commenting. Obvious naman na propaganda pero hindi kami makapagkomento kasi hindi pa namin nakukuha ang kopya [It's obviously a propaganda but we can't make comments because we haven't received the copy yet]," Rodriguez said.
"Our camp does not engage in gutter politics," he added.
