Cancellation or Disqualification

The latest zarzuela of the various petitions seeking the cancellation or the disqualification of BBM's candidacy at the COMELEC has become the perfect venue for Marcos to broadcast another monumental batch of big lies and another ideal opportunity to chip-away at the foundations of our crumbling democratic institutions. And the whores of the COMELEC and the Supreme Court (who are mostly appointees of Dutae) are poised to oblige.

According to the liar of BBM, there is NO tax evasion in BBM's failure to file income tax returns for four (4) consecutive years (i.e., 1982, 1983, 1984 and 1985). 

The fact is, the Court of Appeals (CA) affirmed the conviction of BBM by the Regional Trial Court (RTC) in the tax evasion cases under the National Internal Revenue Code of 1977; hence, BBM is a tax evader and a certified convict who is disqualified to run for any public office in the Philippines.

According to another liar of BBM, the CA decision has not found BBM to have committed a crime involving moral turpitude and no such inference can be made from that (CA) decision and, furthermore, this is self-evident from the very fact that the CA had totally junked the imprisonment meted out by the trial court. 

The fact is, it was wrong for the CA to delete the prison terms altogether and to retain only the piddling fines imposed therein. Presidential Decree No. 1158 (the National Internal Revenue Code of 1977) explicitly provided for BOTH imprisonment and fine as the mandatory penalty for violation of any of its provisions. No discretion is allowed the court to impose only one or the other. In short, BBM bribed the CA to delete the prison terms correctly imposed by the RTC.

Moreover, when BBM elevated that case to the Supreme Court (SC) in 1997, the SC could have easily (a) seen from the very bare allegations contained in the appeal how the CA had gone rogue in its disposition of that case and (b) held the CA justices concerned to account for their temerity in making a mockery of the law. Instead, BBM, realizing he was pushing his luck too far, withdrew the case from the SC, thereby giving the SC a convenient excuse from doing anything about the CA's scandalous decision.

That said, nothing stood in the way of the SC in citing the CA justices concerned to show cause as to why no disciplinary action should be taken against them for such injudicious adventurism. In failing to do so, the SC itself (in addition to the CA) betrayed the trust the public reposed in the judicial system, which is supposed to uphold the rule of law without fear or favor. In short, BBM also bribed the SC to keep quiet.

Given the above perversions of the CA and the SC with plenty of help from the financial incentives of BBM (no doubt using the plundered funds of the Marcos family), why do we even bother with these petitions and seemingly endless appeals that will ultimately land in the lap of a totally corrupted SC, which will predictably decide in favor of the highest bidder?

In an alternate reality in which the CA and the SC actually upheld the rule of law (which is apparently too much to expect in the Philippine), BBM would NOT have been allowed to run for any public office since 1997 and we would NOT be expending so much energy today with these petitions at the COMELEC, which is only an interim step in an attempt to rectify the grievous treachery committed by the CA and the SC against the Filipino people in favor of BBM.

Another totally convoluted practice allowed in the COMELEC rules that has been highlighted in this fiasco with the COMELEC (and which should be corrected in haste) is the apparent ability of any disqualified candidate to be substituted by any person having the same surname up to mid-day of election day. What kind of nonsense is that?!!! This is particularly egregious in the context of a presidential candidate.

Even more ridiculous is the apparent distinction between the cancellation of the Certification of Candidacy (COC) of a candidate and the disqualification of a candidate. While both the cancellation of the COC of BBM and the disqualification of BBM are among the petitions pending at the COMELEC, the resulting President of the Philippines would be different depending on the final judgement of the SC.

If the SC decides to cancel the COC of BBM, then it would be as if BBM did not run for the presidency and the presidential candidate with the most votes (other than BBM) becomes the President of the Philippines. On the other hand, if the SC decides to disqualify BBM (say after the election results are disclosed), then, BBM would not be permitted to become the President of the Philippines (even if BBM garnered the most votes for the presidency) and the winning vice-presidential candidate would assume the presidency by virtue of succession.

Call me a simpleton but the Filipino people deserve a President (not a Vice President) for a President regardless of the SC's decision regarding either the cancellation of the COC of BBM or the disqualification of BBM. Both the cancellation and the disqualification should deem BBM a non-entity in the elections and the COMELEC rules should be revised accordingly.

Of course, if the SC neither cancels nor disqualifies BBM, then we know what happened and the SC should not even exist anymore.