The camp of presidential aspirant Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr. on Monday thanked the Commission on Elections (Comelec) for junking the petition to cancel his certificate of candidacy (COC) for presidency as well as for upholding his rights to run for public office without "any form of harassment and discrimination."

This came after the Comelec 2nd division denied the petition filed by a group of civic leaders led by priest Christian Buenafe on the basis that "there was no ground to cancel Marcos Jr.’s COC on the ground of material misrepresentation."

Marcos Jr.'s spokesman, lawyer Vic Rodriguez, said in a statement "the petitioners' mere creativity for writing and wanting what is not written in the law as basis to cancel ...is way too frivolous and unmeritorious to override the basic precepts of the Constitution."

"After the petitioners' right to have their day in court where their case was fully heard and ventilated, the Comelec has unanimously spoken—the petition to cancel the certificate of candidacy of Bongbong Marcos was denied," he added.

Rodriguez said Marcos Jr.'s camp still extends its "hand of unity even to the fiercest of adversaries."

They will also "invite them to work together in ensuring a clean, fair and credible elections as our initial collective contribution towards nation building for the future of our people, the Filipino children and the youth, and for our beloved Philippines to move forward."

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