The Commission on Elections (Comelec) 2nd Division has denied the motion to recall the poll body's order to extend the deadline granted to former senator Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. to answer the petition that seeks to cancel his presidential bid.
In a three-page order signed on November 23 but only made available to media on Thursday, the 2nd Division cited Section 4, Rule 1 of the 1993 Comelec Rules of Procedure, noting it has the “authority to suspend the reglementary periods” provided by the poll body’s Rules of Procedure “in the interest of justice and speedy resolution of cases before it.”
"Under this authority, the Commission is similarly enabled to cope with all situations without concerning itself about procedural niceties that do not square with the need to do justice, in any case without further loss of time, provided that the right of the parties to a full day in court is not substantially impaired," the decision read.
"In view of the foregoing, the Commission (Second Division) hereby resolves to deny the motion for reconsideration filed by petitioners," it added.
The Comelec's division also mentioned a Supreme Court jurisprudence in the case of Fernandez vs. Agoncillo, where a part of the ruling stated that: "Technicality and procedural imperfection should, as a rule, not serve as bases of decision. In that way, the ends of justice would be served."
On November 18, the poll body granted Marcos' camp a 5-day extension to submit his response over the first disqualification case filed against him.
The deadline of submission for Marcos' response should have been last November 16, since the poll body only gave their camp five days to answer from the day they received the petition which was last November 11.
Prior to the announcement, lawyer Theodore Te, the lead counsel for petitioners, opposed the "motion for extension of time" and requested the Comelec to observe its own rules.
"In their Opposition, petitioners also cited jurisprudence by the Supreme Court on the ‘mandatory and peremptory’ character of ‘inextensible periods’ as well as the Court’s recognition that ‘procedural rules in election cases are designed to achieve not only a correct but also an expeditious determination of the popular will of the electorate," Te stated.
Currently, the late dictator's son and namesake have four cases filed against him: 2 petitions to cancel his certificate of candidacy (COC), 1 petition to disqualify, and 1 petition to declare him as a nuisance candidate in the upcoming polls.
