BBM seen to further extend lead with junking of ‘DQ’ petitions

FORMER Senator Ferdinand ‘Bongbong/BBM’ Marcos Jr., is expected to further extend his lead in the field of 10 official presidential candidates after the First Division of the Commission on Elections (Comelec) also junked the consolidated petition for his disqualification.

In a ruling last February 10, 2022, the two remaining commissioners of the First Division, Aimee Ferolino and Marlon Casquejo, both voted to junk the petitions against Marcos “for lack of merit,” similar to the basis of the Second Division when it junked similar petitions against Marcos last January 17, 2022 (see also Pinoy Exposé, Volume 3, Issue No. 3).

Except for one petition making the absurd claim that the real Bongbong was already ‘dead,’ the rest of the petitions decided on by the two divisions of the poll body rested their argument on the tenuous claim that he should be disqualified for “moral turpitude” after he was found guilty by a trial court in Quezon City of failing to file his income tax return (ITR) between 1982 and 1985.

Marcos, on appeal, was instead merely slapped with a fine by the Court of Appeals and the Supreme Court, as the non-filing of an ITR is not a serious offense under the country’s tax laws nor does it constitute ‘moral turpitude’ as claimed by the petitioners. Marcos promptly paid the fine (see also Pinoy Exposé, Volume 2, Issue No. 47).

“To be clear, the penalty of perpetual disqualification came into force only upon the effectivity of P.D. No. 1994 on January 1, 1986. Thus, the penalty cannot be made to apply to [Marcos’] tax violations, which were committed before the effectivity of the said law,” reads part of the decision, adding:

“The failure to file (income) tax returns is not inherently wrong in the absence of a law punishing it.”

Undeterred, the petitioners, nearly all of them beneficiaries of the Yellow regimes of the Aquinos and the Liberal Party (LP) for more than 30 years since Marcos Senior was illegally removed in 1986, said they would be filing an appeal before the Comelec en banc and if needed, before the Supreme Court—which had sustained the CA’s decision in Marcos’ tax case.

With the major legal impediments already removed, Marcos is seen to further his lead against his 9 other rivals for the presidency.

Based on the final list released by the Comelec, the contesting the presidency would be: Marcos, Vice President Leni Robredo; Manila Mayor Francisco ‘Isko Moreno’ Domagoso; Sen. Panfilo Lacson; Sen. Emmanuel ‘Manny/Pacman’ Pacquiao;

Labor leader Leody de Guzman; labor leader Jose Montemayor; Muslim leader, Faizal Mangondato; former Palace spokesman, Ernesto Abella; and, former national security adviser Norberto Gonzales.

Judging from the result of the Pulse Asia pre-poll survey conducted between January 17 and January 24, 2022, which has a margin of error of 2 percent at the 95 percent level and involving 2,400 respondents, Marcos has a commanding lead of 60 percent over his rivals.

He was followed a distant second by Robredo who polled 16 percent while Moreno and Pacquiao are tied at third place with 8 percent apiece. Lacson only managed to poll 4 percent.

The chances of the remaining candidates have no bearing at this point as they failed to garner less than 1 percent in the poll.

Translated, this means that even if Marcos’ opponents pooled their resources together by dropping their respective pride in order to come up with one challenger, their combined points would only be 36 percent, barely half of Marcos’ current lead.

As for Lacson, his chances has dimmed further after he dropped re-electionist senator, Sherwin ‘Win’ Gatchalian and former Quezon City mayor, Herbert, ‘Bistek’ Bautista, after both publicly expressed their support to the ‘UniTeam’ of Marcos and Davao City mayor, Sara Duterte.

Sara Duterte, “sure winner” too

In the vice-presidential race, Duterte also took half of the voters’ preference (50 percent) in the same poll, with Senate President Vicente ‘Tito’ Sotto’ lagging in second place at only 29 percent.

Sotto, the running mate of Lacson, is followed by Sen. Francisco ‘Kiko’ Pangilinan, the vice-presidential candidate of Robredo at 11 percent.

Pangilinan was followed ‘Doc’ Willie Ong, the running mate of Moreno, at just 5 percent and former Manila mayor and presently Buhay partylist representative, Joselito ‘Lito’ Atienza at ony 1 percent.

Among the candidates openly wooing Pres. Duterte’s support is Moreno, who has turned around from his previous statement that he would let the International Criminal Court (ICC) to drag Pres. Duterte for trial over the government’s war on drugs.

The Comelec has approved a total of 9 candidates for the vice-presidency. Aside from the above, those also running for the position are: Manny Lopez, Carlos Serapio, Walden Bello and Rizalito David. However, their chances are also nil at this point as they polled less than 1 percent each.

3 presidential bets under PDU30 ‘consideration’

Greco Belgica, former chair of the Presidential Anti-Corruption Commission (PACC), who is now also running for senator under the PDDS/PDP-Laban coalition, announced on Friday that Pres. Duterte is set to endorse one of the 3 presidential candidates whose names were submitted to him for consideration.

During the ‘Meet the Press/Report to the Nation’ media forum at the National Press Club (NPC) last February 11, 2022, Belgica said they would “support” the candidate to be chosen by the Chief Executive.

“Isa sa mga konsiderasyon ay yung kahandaan ng isang kandidato na ituloy ang mga programa ni Pang. Duterte,” Belgica stressed.

Pres. Duterte’s endorsement is seen as “crucial” for any candidate as he continues to maintain the trust and confidence of more than half of population, based on poll results, despite just having less than 4 months in office.

Among the candidates openly wooing Pres. Duterte’s support is Moreno, who has turned around from his previous statement that he would let the International Criminal Court (ICC) to drag Pres. Duterte for trial over the government’s war on drugs.

Aside from retracting his original agreement to let Pres. Duterte be tried abroad by the ICC, Moreno is now openly praising the administration’s policies, including the protocols against COVID-19 that Moreno, only several months ago, had severely criticized, in a clear attack on Pres. Duterte.

Mayor Duterte, for her part, said she would “appeal” to her father to endorse Marcos for president.

Pres. Duterte had earlier expressed dismay that her daughter had agreed to slide down to vice president, instead of Marcos.