MANILA – The presumptive president Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr.’s chief of staff and spokesperson appealed to the petitioners of the disqualification case on Tuesday to cease their agenda of divisiveness and animosity.
According to Atty. Victor Rodriguez, they must learn to respect the will of the majority who voted for Marcos and his running mate Inday Sara Duterte in the May 9 national and local elections.
“I appeal to those who keep on pursuing this divisiveness, the people have spoken. The Filipino people have spoken and an overwhelming majority has voted President-elect Bongbong Marcos and Vice President-elect Inday Sara Duterte into office as President and Vice President. Learn to respect the will of the Filipino people,” he said.
The spokesperson of Marcos stated that they have yet to obtain a copy of the petition filed before the Supreme Court to void Marcos’ certificate of candidacy with a request for the issuance of a temporary restraining order (TRO) to stop the tallying of votes cast for him and his proclamation should he win.
Rodriguez mentioned that the Commission on Elections (Comelec) has already unanimously junked the disqualification cases both at the division and en banc levels.
“We have yet to receive a copy of the petition that was filed this morning. However, I think these cases have been resolved unanimously (already) by the Commission on Elections on the division level as well as the Commission on Elections en banc. And these cases have been dismissed and the decision was unanimous,” he said.
The spokesperson also appealed to the petitioners to let Marcos and his incoming administration to spend the limited time in a day to work productively instead of spending time catering to their animosity.
“And I appeal to you, instead of pushing for your agenda of animosity e tulungan niyo na lang kami na pagtuunan at gamitin natin ang ating limitadong oras (help us to focus and use our limited time) everyday, we are all limited to 24 hours in a day, allow us to be more productive,” he said.
The high court have been asked earlier by the petitioners Fr. Christian Buenafe, Fides Lim, Ma. Edeliza Hernandez, Celia Lagman Sevilla, Roland Vibal, and Josephine Lascano to issue a TRO enjoining and restraining the Senate and House of Representatives from canvassing the votes cast for Marcos and proclaiming him as president should he win the May 9 elections.
Meanwhile, the Comelec en banc affirmed last week the poll body’s Second Division’s resolution that junked the petition filed by Buenafe to cancel the COC of Marcos.
The Comelec en banc said the petitioners failed to present new matters or issues that would warrant the reversal of the former Comelec Second Division’s ruling.
Comelec Commissioner George Garcia recently stated that, under Comelec rules, winning candidates for the 2022 elections with pending disqualification cases might still be declared without a final decision that would prohibit the poll body to do so and if there is nothing to prevent them from being proclaimed.
