‘Grand design’ to install Marcos as president cited

By John Victor D. Ordoñez

DELAYING the disqualification lawsuit against the son and namesake of the late dictator Ferdinand E. Marcos is part of a “grand design” for him to retake the presidential palace, according to a retiring election official.

“There is a grand design to delay it, because they already probably know he is going to be disqualified given the evidence,” election Commissioner Maria Rowena V. Guanzon told CNN Philippines on Wednesday, referring to former Senator Ferdinand “Bongbong” R. Marcos, Jr.

She said the Commission on Elections (Comelec) would probably delay the disqualification cases against Mr. Marcos, who is leading in presidential opinion polls, until the results of the May 9 elections come out.

“They want to delay it so that he will win and then hopefully he can sit and then even if the Supreme Court will disqualify him a year after the elections, he can still sit [as president],” she added.

Victor D. Rodriguez, Mr. Marcos’s lawyer, did not immediately reply to a Viber message seeking comment.

Ms. Guanzon and two other commissioners — Antonio T. Kho, Jr. and Comelec Chairman Sheriff M. Abas — were to retire on Wednesday. Without a ruling by the First Division, her vote to disqualify Mr. Marcos will not get counted.

She earlier accused Commissioner Aimee P. Ferolino, who was assigned to write the ruling, of delaying the case — an allegation that the latter rejected, citing case load.

Ms. Guanzon said she had been telling her friends, including Marcos loyalists, that it might be better for him to be disqualified before the elections and let his wife Liza take his place.

“If they voted for him and then he gets disqualified and won’t be able to sit as president, they will be frustrated,” she said in mixed English and Filipino.

“My question for Commissioner Ferolino is ‘Why won’t you release it? Are you going to turn it into fermented fish?’”

Comelec spokesman James B. Jimenez earlier said Mr. Marcos could participate in the presidential campaign pending the ruling. If he gets disqualified before he can be proclaimed president, his votes would be considered stray. If he gets proclaimed but gets disqualified after, he will be replaced by the vice-president.

A ceremony was held at the Sofitel Philippine Plaza Manila on Wednesday in honor of the retiring Comelec officials.

“The best way to honor these three is to make this year’s elections a success,” Commissioner Socorro B. Inting said at the ceremony streamed live on Ms. Guanzon’s Facebook page.

Mr. Casquejo will transfer from the Comelec First Division to the Second Division as presiding commissioner.

Ms. Guanzon on Tuesday said Ms. Ferolino was delaying the case to invalidate her and Mr. Casquejo’s votes.

Comelec has a chairman and six other members. Its two divisions have three members each. Decisions issued by the two divisions are eventually appealed to the seven-member en banc.

Ms. Inting will become the officer-in-charge until President Rodrigo R. Duterte appoints a new chairman. She is a member of the Second Division, which on Jan. 17 favored Mr. Marcos in a similar lawsuit seeking to bar his presidential run.

Ms. Guanzon, an appointee of the late President Benigno S.C. Aquino III — Mr. Duterte’s predecessor — has alleged that a senator from Davao whom she has not named was trying to meddle in the Marcos disqualification cases. The other six commissioners are Duterte appointees.

Political analysts have said Comelec should investigate these allegations at the agency to keep its independence and avoid public distrust.

The four remaining commissioners are left to decide on pending election cases.

“All in all, I have enjoyed all your company even though we have disagreed,” Ms. Guanzon told her fellow commissioners. “This will certainly not be the end of my career as a public servant. I’m confident that the senior commissioners will run successful elections this year.”

Earlier in the day, she told CNN: “If Comelec can’t resolve disqualification cases judiciously, how can it run elections well?”

Meanwhile, Comelec handed over the source codes that will be used for the May 9 elections to the Philippine central bank on Wednesday.

“The fact that the source codes are here and protected from dangers guarantees the integrity of the elections,” Mr. Jimenez said during the turnover ceremony streamed live on Facebook.

The source codes were deposited in a secure vault of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) under the custody of election officials.

Comelec and BSP signed a deal on Monday for the source codes — the instructions used by software programs — to be held in escrow by the central bank as mandated by the election laws.

“We are one with the Comelec in ensuring the peaceful and orderly conduct of this year’s elections,” central bank Director Rosabel B. Guerrero said.