Several groups on Tuesday filed a petition before the Commission on Elections (Comelec) to disqualify the presidential bid of Ferdinand 'Bongbong' Marcos Jr. 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."
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.
“Having been convicted by final judgment of a violation of the National Internal Revenue Code, Marcos is perpetually disqualified from holding any public office, to vote and to participate in any election as mandated under the NIRC,” the petitioners stated.
The group further contended that the Comelec has sufficient grounds to disqualify Marcos, as his "false assertion" under oath was made "with the deliberate intent to mislead, misinform, and deceive the electorate."
Besides the former senator's conviction, the civic leaders also called attention to the Marcos family's "refusal" to settle unpaid estate tax which roughly amounts to PHP203.8 billion in estate taxes, inclusive of interests, surcharge and other penalties.
This was the amount in unpaid taxes due on the estate of the dictator who died in exile on Sept. 29, 1989, three years after the Marcoses were driven out of Malacañang by the 1986 Edsa People Power Revolution, according to the petitioners.
"Furthermore, petitioners have not seen any document that will show Marcos Jr.'s filing of an estate tax return and proper payment of taxes on the estate of his father, who holds the Guinness World Records title for 'Greatest Robbery of a Government,'" it added.
The petitioners said this "repeated evasion" of duty, once again, equates to moral turpitude.
Among the petitioners are Fr. Christian Buenafe, co-chairperson of the Task Force Detainees of the Philippines; Fides Lim, board chairperson of political prisoners' group KAPATID; and Ma. Edeliza Hernandez, executive director of the Medical Action Group.
Also joining them are Celia Lagman Sevilla, secretary-general of the Families of Victims of Involuntary Disappearance Inc.; Roland Vibal, Luzon representative of the Philippine Alliance of Human Rights Advocates Inc.; and Josephine Lascano, executive director of the Balay Rehabilitation Center.
