The dispute against the nomination of now-presumptive president-elect Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr. has reached the country's highest court.
After being denied by the Commission on Elections, petitioners led by their attorney Theodore Te rushed to the Supreme Court to request that it "delete and declare void ab initio the Certificate of Candidacy for President filed by Marcos."
In addition, they requested that the Supreme Court issue a temporary restraining order prohibiting both chambers of Congress from counting the votes cast for Marcos and declaring him president on May 23, pending the outcome of their appeal.
Petitioners urge the Supreme Court to annul and set aside the May 10 Resolution of the Comelec en Banc, which rejected their appeal to revoke Marcos' COC, and the January 17 Resolution of the Second Division.
Their Petition for Certiorari stated, "This Petition prays for the invalidation and reversal of the Questioned Comelec Resolutions for having been rendered in severe abuse of discretion amounting to lack of excess of jurisdiction."
"By declining to Cancel or Deny Due Course the [COC] of respondent Marcos, Jr. notwithstanding his knowingly making false material representations on two material matters, respondent Comelec acted with egregious abuse of discretion amounting to lack of excess of jurisdiction," they noted.
As with other legal challenges to Marcos' candidacy, the Buenafe petition is based on the putative president-conviction elect's for four years of failing to file an income tax return.
In their complaint, the petitioners accused Marcos of "misrepresenting his eligibility under the National Internal Revenue Code of 1977"
However, the petitioners also presented to the Supreme Court the Marcoses' inheritance tax debt, which is estimated to have reached P203 billion due to surcharges and interest, as evidence of Marcos Jr.'s "tendency to flout Philippine laws."
They observed that there is no evidence that the Marcos heirs paid the tax, and that their team has avoided media inquiries on the matter.
The petitioners ask the Supreme Court to rule that Marcos was never a candidate in the 2022 National Elections.
"With respondent Marcos Jr.'s void certificate of eligibility, the qualified candidate with the next highest number of votes should be declared," they told the Supreme Court, citing the Jalosjos case.
In the mentioned case, Jalosjos' COC was found invalid due to his ineligibility at the time of filing, and the cancellation was retroactive to the filing date.
