Presidential aspirant Vice President Leni Robredo on Monday, Jan. 17, shrugged off the disqualification cases against her rival, former Senator Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr., before the Commission on Elections (Comelec), whose second division earlier junked one of the cases.
“Hindi, hindi namin inaabangan kasi whatever naman nung desisyon ng Comelec, hindi naman apektado ‘yung laban (No, no we aren’t waiting for it because whatever the decision of the Comelec, the fight will not get affected),” she told reporters during a chance interview at the sidelines of her Swab Cab project in Antipolo City.
Robredo also earlier said that personally, she would want to face Marcos in the upcoming presidential elections to prove “once and for all” that she won in 2016.
READ: Robredo says she'd rather beat Marcos in May polls than for him to get disqualified
The son of the namesake of the former dictator petitioned for Robredo’s removal from office for allegedly cheating in the vice presidential polls. This was junked by the Supreme Court in February last year.
“Lagi naman namin sinasabi na ‘yung laban ng aking kandidatura ay hindi naman nakadepende saka nakabase sa galaw ng ibang mga kandidato (We always say that my candidacy is not based on the action of other candidates),” Robredo said.
“Tayo (For us), whatever the decision will be, sige lang tayo (we will continue),” the Vice President added.
On Monday, the poll body’s second division junked the petition filed by former Supreme Court spokesperson Theodore Te, representing political detainees and human rights and medical organizations that opposed the Martial Law, for the cancellation of Marcos’ Certificate of Candidacy (COC).
READ: Comelec 2nd Division junks petition to cancel Marcos' COC
The first division, headed by Commissioner Rowena Guanzon, was also set to release the promulgation on the two consolidated disqualification cases today.
But some Comelec staff in the first division tested positive to COVID-19, with Guanzon being a close contact. She is now in isolation.
The consolidated petitions were filed by martial law survivors led by Bonifacio Ilagan and Akbayan Citizen’s Action Party.
The group of petitioners argued that Marcos should not be allowed to run for any elective post because of a prior conviction for non-payment of taxes and non-filing of income tax returns.