Two more disqualification cases against presidential aspirant Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos, Jr. filed with the Commission on Elections were elevated to the Comelec’s 1st Division on Monday, December 6, Comelec spokesman James Jimenez confirmed.

These two petitions were the ones filed on December 2 by:

• Akbayan and other civic leaders
• National Commission on Muslim Filipinos Commissioner Abubakar Mangelen

Abubakar Mangelen claimed to be the duly elected chairman of the Partido Federal ng Pilipinas (PFP), which is carrying Marcos’ presidential bid. His petition also asked the poll body to nullify one of Marcos’ candidacy papers because it was supposedly issued by PFP without his consent.

Both petitions by Akbayan and Mangelen cited Marcos’ tax conviction in the 1990s as basis for his disqualification under the Omnibus Election Code.

Monday’s raffle puts in a tie the number of anti-Marcos cases being handled by the 1st and 2nd Division – each with three.

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On November 29, the disqualification case filed by Bonifacio Ilagan and other Martial Law survivors against Marcos was also raffled to the 1st Division, composed of Commissioner Rowena Guanzon, the only Aquino administration appointee in the seven-member en banc, and commissioners Marlon Casquejo and Aimee Ferolino, who are both career officials from Davao.

Meanwhile, there are three anti-Marcos petitions being handled by the 2nd Division, which is composed of commissioners Socorro Inting, Antonio Kho, and the newly appointed Rey Bulay. All three are appointees of President Rodrigo Duterte. – Rappler.com