The petition to disqualify the certificate of candidacy (COC) for the presidency of former Senator Ferdinand 'Bongbong' Marcos has been raffled to the second division of the Commission on Elections (Comelec).
"The case has been raffled to the 2nd Div. Owing to a large number of cases on the docket, no summons for this particular case has been issued yet, but is expected within the week," Comelec spokesman James Jimenez said in a message to reporters on Tuesday night.
Jimenez previously said the poll body will likely reach its decision on the disqualification petition against Marcos by December.
On November 2, several groups filed a petition to disqualify the presidential bid of the late dictator's son due to his criminal conviction in a tax case 26 years ago.
In their 57-page petition, the 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."
Marcos' camp, meanwhile, dismissed the claims saying that it is obviously propaganda.
