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“To deny it and say that our petitions ‘lack of merit’ is to endorse the historical distortions perpetrated by the Marcoses, whitewash their crimes against the people, and abet their delusions of returning to power."
Marcos Jr. was tried and convicted of violating the 1977 NIRC in 1995 by the Quezon City Regional Trial Court, which imposed on him the following: 1) three-year imprisonment and a fine of P30,000 for “failure to file income tax return for the year 1985” and 2) three-year imprisonment and another P30,000 fine for “failure to pay income tax for the year 1985.”
From what he said during those interviews, it seems that what he is trying to pass off as his platform of government mostly consists of plans to revive his father’s discredited and long-dead programs. Among them is the revival of the training program for OFWs that during the Marcos Sr. dictatorship encouraged the export of Filipino labor as a cure-all for the unemployment problem that the Marcos Sr. regime could have solved by making more jobs within the country available.
Saan tayo magkakaisa?
Paano?
Gayong minsang may isa
na kamay na bakal
ang dinurog, nilamukos
ang bayan.
Thus, the jurist body recommended that national and local government officials – including members of the National Task Force to End the Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC) – must refrain from labeling HRDs as terrorists. Any credible accusation of terrorist conduct must be pursued “through the rule of law, cognizable charges, compliance with due process and the right to a fair trial by a competent independent and impartial court,” it emphasized.
Marcos Junior’s claim about self-sufficiency in rice was similarly false. There was a rice crisis during much of his father’s reign, with people lining up for the cereal for hours, and mixing rice with corn. Alternative means of generating power were indeed explored during the last years of Marcos’ rule, but these attempts, such as the corruption-ridden, badly designed Bataan Nuclear Power Plant, never made any difference in assuring reliable power sources beyond the 1980s.
Comelec Commissioner Rowena Guanzon said that Marcos Jr.’s “repeated and persistent failure to file his income tax returns for 1982, 1983, 1984 and 1985 constitute an offense involving moral turpitude,” citing section 12 of the Omnibus Election Code.
“Simply put, Marcos Jr. is a convicted criminal and a shameless liar who should not be allowed to run for public office, especially the highest and most powerful position in the land."
“We will never tire in reiterating that the hands of the Marcoses are bloodied and dirty.”
“Very strange and contradictory that the Comelec Second Division opted to deny our petition yet agreed that the ‘representations’ made in Item 11 of Box 22 of the certificate of candidacy (COC) of Marcos Jr. are ‘material.'"
“Allowing Marcos Jr. to run will be a mockery not only of the elections but of our nation’s history, our democracy, and our hard-won rights and freedoms.”
“We use art to question, highlight, and resist exactly what is eroding on our communities.”
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