Despite eight petitions against Bongbong Marcos’ presidential run, his name will be in the ballot. Printing starts in five weeks. But Comelec proceedings and appeals to the Supreme Court will take months. A cliffhanger on Election Day, May 9, 2022, is if BBM’s votes shall be counted.
Preliminaries were slow. The Comelec Second Division allowed BBM’s lawyer’s delay despite the poll body’s “non-extendible” deadlines. As recipient of the first petition, it has yet to consolidate seven others, including those raffled off to the First Division. One petition, supported by a second, wants BBM’s certificate of candidacy (COC) nullified. Three aim to disqualify him for criminal past. Two seek to remove him as nuisance candidate. The eighth questions his party nomination.
Nullification of candidacy seems open and shut. BBM perjured twice in his COC, which voids it under the Omnibus Election Code, petitioners allege. First, BBM misclaimed under oath that he was “eligible for the office I seek to be elected to.” Second, he denied having been “found liable for any offense which carries the accessory penalty of perpetual disqualification to hold public office.”
Records show otherwise. BBM was convicted by the Court of Appeals’ final judgment in October 1997 of tax violation. He did not file income tax returns for 1982-1985 when he was Ilocos vice governor then governor. The CA inexplicably had deleted the lower court’s other verdict of tax evasion and penalty of imprisonment. Still it found BBM guilty of non-filing for four consecutive years. It ordered him to pay tax deficiencies, surcharges and fine of P2,000 per year for 1982-1984, and P30,000 for 1985.
The National Internal Revenue Code perpetually disqualifies convicts from public office. The Election Code debars candidacies of convicts of crimes involving “moral turpitude.”
Retired chief justice Artemio Panganiban quoted jurisprudence in his recent Inquirer column to define moral turpitude. It is “everything done contrary to justice, modesty or good morals; an act of baseness, vileness or depravity in the private and social duties which a man owes.”
The implication on BBM is stark. “If his COC is cancelled because of material misrepresentation, it is void from the start and he was never a valid candidate,” retired Supreme Court justice Antonio Carpio replied to a query from The STAR. “He cannot be substituted because he was never a candidate.”
Panganiban differentiated between disqualification of candidacy and COC cancellation. Disqualification is filed for offenses against the Election Code. It allows substitution by another candidate with the same surname from the same party. But “if the candidacy of BBM is cancelled or denied due course, he cannot be substituted because such cancellation or denial legally means that the COC never existed. Thus, BBM votes will not be counted.”
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Crisis is opportunity for market endearment. Cebu Pacific fully refunded its customers for flight cancellations during the pandemic. It returned P8.2 billion cash, not vouchers or digital travel fund, from January 2020 to September 30, 2021. After completing refund requests and resolving all cases filed at the Civil Aeronautics Board, the airline views this as a competitive advantage.
The pandemic disrupted flights of all Philippine carriers. Complaints at the CAB skyrocketed in 2020 and continued to soar this year, according to a STAR special report. The 2,691 cases involving domestic flights in 2020 was more than three times the 712 in pre-crisis 2019. Nine in ten of the complaints in 2020 were for refunds. Cebu Pacific lost no time settling all its obligations.
Also despite the pandemic, Cebu Pacific won investors’ trust. It stabilized its future with fresh capital, $250 million from IFC and Indigo. It signed a P16-billion ten-year syndicated loan with domestic banks. A stock rights offer in March 2021 raised P12.5 billion.
Remaining liquid, Cebu Pacific continued to offer affordable service and made a digital pivot to make flying easy. This enhanced passenger trust and loyalty, said CEO Lance Gokongwei: “We recognize that we can contribute to a higher purpose. It is incumbent upon us to help uplift the lives of people.”
Sinovac safety efficacy and price still need clarifying
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