Human rights groups appeal Comelec's junking of petition to cancel Bongbong Marcos’ COC

A motion for partial reconsideration was filed before the Commission on Elections on Monday to seek the reversal of the Second Division's ruling on the petition to cancel the certificate of candidacy of presidential aspirant Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr.

The petitioners, led by Father Christian Buenafe and other human rights groups, appealed to the Comelec to review the Second Division’s junking of the petition to deny due course and grant the cancellation of Marcos' COC.

As consequence of the possible cancellation of Marcos’ COC, the petitioners likewise asked the poll body to exclude the former senator from the list of official candidates for president in the ballot for the May 2022 national elections.

In their motion, the petitioners said they will not refute the Second Division’s finding that the representations in Item 11 and Box 22 of the COC are material.

However, they asserted the following:

• The Second Division grievously erred in characterizing the petition as susceptible to summary dismissal and in finding that the petition combined for disqualification and cancellation.
• The Second Division grievously erred in ruling that Marcos’ material representation such as that he is eligible for the position of president and that he has not been convicted of a crime punished with the penalty of perpetual disqualification from public office, were not false.
• Contrary to the finding of the Second Division, Marcos deliberately attempted to mislead, misinform, and deceive the electorate.

Further, the petitioners asked the “automatic and mandatory inhibition” of the members of the Comelec Second Division from participating in the discussions of the MR in the commission en banc.

They likewise prayed for the commission en banc to provide a finding as to the “circumstance behind the use of the intemperate and improper language by the Second Division.”

In their final note, the petitioners noted the “adversarial and confrontational tone” of the resolution released by the Second Division.

“Parts of the Questioned Resolution read like a litigant’s pleading in tone and references while other portions employ words and qualifiers that should not form part of the vocabulary of an independent tribunal deciding impartially on a matter under its mandate,” the motion read.

The petitioners further accused the Second Division that it “gratuitously alludes to wrongdoing on the part of petitioners and implicitly their counsel without proof nor proper proceedings and then stops short of taking express action on their gratuitous allegations.”

They claimed that its effect is to “demonize” the petitioners and their counsel without providing an opportunity to controvert.

“The words and the tone accompanying the words used by the Second Division go beyond simply hinting (without basis, and thus wrongfully) that petitioners and their counsels acted wrongfully (which is categorically denied), they go to the very integrity of the Questioned Resolution itself,” the petitioners wrote.

“Considering that the Second Division’s Questioned Resolution is to be reviewed not only for error in its content but also for possible grave abuse of discretion amounting to manifest bias on the part of its participants, it is proper and ethical that the members of the Second Division who participated in the proceedings a quo that leg to the Questioned Resolution be mandatorily inhibited from participating in its review,” they added.

On January 17, the Second Division junked the petition to cancel Marcos’ COC for president.

The Second Division is composed by Commissioners Socorro Inting, Antonio Kho Jr., and Rey Bulay.—AOL, GMA News