MANILA – The Commission on Elections (Comelec) will consider a petition to revoke presidential candidate Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr.'s Certificate of Candidacy (COC).

A hearing will be held, according to Comelec spokesperson James Jimenez, to assess if the former senator did fact commit a misrepresentation.

“Well, definitely there will be hearings about that since the point of the cancellation petition, there was a material misrepresentation in COC (certificate of candidacy). This means that there was untruthfulness or wrong information given to the COC so that needs to be proven,” Jimenez said in a telephone interview on Wednesday.

Asked who will handle the case, the poll body official said: “Let’s wait for the announcement of the hearing because again at this point this is a live case we cannot go into too many details.”

“Cancelation of COC is based on material misrepresentation and a disqualification has broader grounds. If I’m not mistaken cancelation (petition) has been filed,” he added.

Because both sides are expected to defend themselves, Jimenez said he can't foresee how long the session will take.

“There is no time limit. The claims of the complainants have to be proven and the candidate will also have to defend himself. It would take as long as it takes but of course, we want to expedite the resolution of the case,” he said.

Asked if the decision will be out before the campaign period, the Comelec spokesperson said, “We will find out.”

On Tuesday, petitioners Fr. Christian Buenafe, Fides Lim, Ma. Edeliza Hernandez, Celia Lagman Sevilla, Roland Vibal, and Josephine Lascano, filed a petition to cancel Marcos’ COC for containing multiple false material representations.

They said Marcos was convicted "for his multiple failures to file income tax returns" by the Quezon City Regional Trial Court on July 27, 1995.

They further argued that the Court of Appeals affirmed the ruling, which "thereby becoming a final and unappealable conviction" because it was no longer appealed to the Supreme Court.

The Petition to Cancel or Deny Due Course was submitted under Section 78 of the Omnibus Election Code in connection to Section 74, Article IX (OEC).

Marcos is unable to compete for any public office, according to the petitioners, because he was convicted.

After receiving the official copy, Marcos' spokesperson, lawyer Victor Rodriguez, said they will handle "this predicted nuisance petition" at the appropriate time and venue. (PNA)

Read the article on politics.com.ph >