Petitioners who filed the petition seeking the cancellation of the certificate of candidacy (COC) of Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. opposed the "Motion for Extension of Time" filed by his camp in response to the summons issued by the Commission on Elections (Comelec).
In a statement through counsel, the petitioners on Wednesday, Nov. 17 opposed the motion and requested the Comelec to "observe its own rules." They also cited jurisprudence by the Supreme Court on the "mandatory and peremptory" character of "inextendible periods" as well as the Court's recognition that "procedural rules in election cases are designed to achieve not only a correct but also an expeditious determination of the popular will of the electorate." According to the petitioners, in the summons, the Comelec directed Marcos to submit his verified answer within an "inextendible period" of five days from receipt of his notice. The petitioners said that Marcos acknowledged receiving the notice on Nov. 11 thus leaving him until Nov. 16, 2021 to submit his verified answer.
They also reminded the Comelec that the consequence of granting respondent's motion for more time would be for the Comelec to "flout" its own rules, which the Supreme Court had already ruled in previous instances as "grave abuse of discretion." "As a result of the respondent's non-compliance with the Summons of the Comelec, there being no grant of the extension nor verified answer submitted within the inextendible period, petitioners also asked the Comelec to follow its own directive contained in its Summons, i.e., to bar respondent from "submitting controverting evidence or filing his memorandum" in accordance with Sec. 4 (6) of Rule 23 of the Comelec Rules of Procedure, as amended by Comelec Resolution No. 9523," they said.
To date the Comelec has not granted Marcos' motion nor has he submitted his verified answer.
On November 2, Petitioners Fr. Christian Buenafe of Task Force Detainees, Fides Lim of Kapatid, Ma Edeliza Hernandez of Medical Action Group, Celia Lagman Sevilla of Families of Victims of Involuntary Disappearance, Roland Vibal of PH Alliance of Human Rights, and Josephine Lasvano of Balay Rehab Center claimed that Marcos' COC contains multiple false material representations.