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The Commission on Elections (Comelec) on Tuesday dismissed the seventh and last disqualification case against presidential candidate Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr after

the First Division denied the petition filed by a group of Ilocanos for lacking in merit.

In a 29-page decision, the First Division said petitioners could not prove Marcos must be disqualified from running for president in the May 2022 polls.

"As it now stands, Respondent possesses all the qualifications and none of the disqualifications under the 1987 Constitution and relevant laws. As such, the dismissal of this Petition is in order," said the Comelec ruling dated April 20.

The First Division said it is not convinced that failure of Marcos to file his income tax returns is not enough reason to disqualify him since this does not constitute a crime involving moral turpitude.

"Regardless of the fact that the non-filing of income tax return was done repeatedly by respondent, there is still no tax evasion to speak of as no tax was actually intentionally evaded. The government was not defrauded," said the Comelec.

"In the case of Respondent, it can be said that the filing of income tax return is only for record purposes, not for the payment of tax liability. He may have been neglectful in performing this obligation. It, however, does not reflect moral depravity," it added.

The First Division said it believes there should be no more discussions as to whether Marcos is qualified to run for president or not.

The division is presided by Commissioner Socorro Inting with Commissioners Aimee Ferolino and Aimee Neri serving as members.

In December 7, 2021 the petitioners, composed of members of Pudno Nga Ilokano, filed their disqualification case against Marcos.

Marcos' spokesman, Vic Rodriguez, hailed the ruling.

“As advocated, elections are settled through the ballots on election day – not through the abuse of our

judicial processes like the filing of nuisance petitions for disqualification,” said Rodriquez in a statement.

“It is now time for every peace-loving Filipino to work for a clean, honest, credible and fair elections, and allow the people to speak, their voices and votes genuinely counted,” Rodriguez added. DMS