‘ANTI-MARCOS GROUPS CAUGHT LYING THRICE’

THE Commission on Elections did not simply dismiss summarily by unanimous vote the petition to cancel the certificate of candidacy (COC) of presidential aspirant Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos but went ahead to discuss what it described as an attempt by the petitioners to deceive the poll body.

The Marcos camp pointed this out after the Second Division of the poll body voted to dismiss the petition seeking to cancel his COC on the ground of material misrepresentation in relation to a case of non-filing of income tax returns (ITR).

Atty. Vic Rodriguez, Chief of Staff and Spokesperson of Marcos, in a related development, reacted to the 1Sambayan press release on the Comelec decision by drawing their attention to the wording of the ruling.

“Petitioners Fr. Christian Buenafe, Fides Lim et.al., with their lawyer, Theodore O. Te were caught by the Comelec 2nd Division lying not just once, not twice, but thrice!” Rodriguez said in a statement on Wednesday.

The unanimous ruling of the Second Division, Rodriguez noted, is unequivocal: Presidential aspirant Bongbong Marcos did not commit any false material representation in his certificate of candidacy.

“What is indisputable based on the Comelec ruling is that 1Sambayan co-convenor retired SC Justice Tony Carpio lied to the Filipino people and has committed injustice to presidential aspirant Bongbong Marcos for erroneously claiming and shamelessly branding the case as tax evasion when the truth is it was only for mere non-filing of tax returns,” added Rodriguez.