Philippine election body dismisses petition to bar Ferdinand ‘Bongbong’ Marcos Jnr from presidential election

Case was based on Marcos’ failure to file income tax returns while governor of Ilocos Norte, but Comelec rules this was ‘not a crime of moral turpitude’

This is the second petition against Marcos to be thrown out. Five more are pending, one of them claiming he is an impostor and the real Bongbong died years ago

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Philippine presidential candidate Ferdinand ‘Bongbong’ Marcos Jnr is the son of former dictator Ferdinand Marcos. Photo: EPA

Published: 8:58pm, 17 Jan 2022Updated: 9:01pm, 17 Jan 2022

The late Philippine dictator Ferdinand Marcos’ son Bongbong faces one less obstacle in his path to the May presidential election, after the election commission dismissed a petition to bar the former senator from running.

The Commission on Elections (Comelec) on Monday threw out the petition – one of multiple complaints the poll body had consolidated into seven cases – against Ferdinand Marcos Jnr’s bid to replace President Rodrigo Duterte, saying that while Marcos had failed to file income tax returns for four years from 1982 to 1986 while he was governor of Ilocos Norte province, “failure [to do so] is not a crime involving moral turpitude”.

A 2009 Supreme Court ruling defined moral turpitude as “everything which is done contrary to justice, modesty, or good morals; an act of baseness, vileness or depravity in the private and social duties which a man owes his fellowmen, or to society in general.” The petitioners said they would appeal.

This is the second petition against Marcos to have been thrown out. The first one, dismissed last month, had wanted Marcos to be declared a “nuisance candidate” because the petitioner said he was only running to place his family back in power. The poll body found the claim “sweeping” and “unfounded”. The dictator’s son – the front runner in surveys taken in December after Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte opted out of the presidential race – still faces five other pending cases.

Failure [to file income tax returns] is not a crime involving moral turpitude

The Commission on Elections

Because the cases are likely to be resolved after the printing of the ballots has started, and will possibly be appealed before the Supreme Court, Marcos’ name would “still be on the ballot”, said Comelec spokesman James Jimenez.