Ferdinand Marcos’ PD 1158 to blame for his son’s disqualification fix

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If the late President Ferdinand Marcos was preparing Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos, Jr. (BBM) to carry the family torch in due time after his departure, it appears he unwittingly installed the firecracker his son would be hoisted through when he left. time has come.

Elder Marcos probably never imagined that Presidential Decree # 1158, which he promulgated in 1977 under his martial law powers, would come decades later to bite his own son in the butt.

Now a presidential candidate, Marcos Jr. risks being expelled from all public office under this executive order, which codified all tax laws dating from 1939 into a collection known as the National Internal Revenue Code of 1977. The PD 1158 of his father gave more bite to the provisions relating to the non-payment of tax declarations and the non-payment of taxes by imposing, in addition to the sanctions already provided for by these, the “dismissal” of the civil service and the “perpetual ban” from holding any public office, and from “voting and participating in any election” for “violation of any provision of this Code” (article 252-c).

Marcos Jr. was convicted of the crime of non-payment of taxes from 1982 to 1985. This would have been the simplest basis for disqualifying him from running for president. There is no denying this fact. There was no need to incorporate peripheral issues into the process. Nowhere is “moral turpitude” mentioned as an essential element of the offense to justify “dismissal” or “perpetual dismissal” from public office under PD 1158. Being a malum prohibitum, this law punishes the simple non-payment of taxes. On the other hand, the omnibus electoral code speaks of disqualifying a candidate who has been convicted of any other crime “involving moral turpitude” (eg murder, rape). In other words, it is simply another reason, if applicable, outside and independent of the offenses punished by the General Tax Code of 1977.

Confusing the most viable ground for disqualification with all kinds of harmless accusations and thus widening the scope of the dispute can only serve to obscure the issue and prolong the debate. Therefore, we are now faced with endless back and forth as to whether Marcos Jr. has been convicted of a crime involving “moral turpitude”. This question should no longer be part of the conversation.

The Electoral Commission (Comelec) may not even be up to the tedious task of sorting the chaff from the grain, with its already busy schedule ahead of next year’s elections, barely six months away. Simplifying the matter would have given Marcos Jr.’s powerful lawyers no plausible reason to seek an extension to study and respond to an obvious petition – much less leeway for Comelec to grant the same. By bending over backwards and breaking its own rule explicitly forbidding such an extension, the Comelec may have unnecessarily fueled the suspicion that it is playing soccer with, if not already in the tank, for an aspirant. prefer.

STEPHEN L. MONSANTO[email protected]

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