Marcos' lawyer to ask SC to dismiss petition against him
The lawyer of former Senator Ferdinand Marcos Jr said Friday their camp will be asking the Supreme Court to dismiss a petition to disqualify the son of the former president.
“A comment is required to be filed on the petition and therefore in the comment, you may expect that we will be asking for the dismissal of the petition,” Estelilo Mendoza said in an interview with ABS-CBN News Channel.
The Supreme Court on Thursday asked Marcos, the Commission on Elections, the House and Senate to answer the petition by a group.
Teddy Te, counsel for the petitioners, told CNN Philppines they are not asking the Supreme Court to stop the May 24 canvassing by the House and Senate but not to count the votes for margin.
Marcos led the partial and unofficial count by a huge lead over Vice President Leni Robredo for the presidency.
In a separate interview with CNN Philippines, Mendoza said it ''must be noted is that the Supreme Court should ask the respondents, that means BBM (Bongbong Marcos) to comment not to answer the petition.''
Mendoza said the disqualification petition went through the Comelec which means ''this issue does not come to the Supreme Court in a vaccum.'' ''That is probably why the Supreme Court requires the respondents to comment and not to answer the petition,'' he said.
The petition seeks to set aside the two resolutions of the Comelec which dismissed for lack of merit the petition they filed against Marcos to deny or cancel his certificate of candidacy for president and denying his motion for partial reconsideration.
The petition is anchored on Marcos Jr. 's alleged failure to file income tax returns from 1982 to 1985 while he was a public official in Ilocos Norte. DMS
