Philippines election body dismisses petition to bar Ferdinand Marcos Jr from election

Son of late dictator is leading opinion polls ahead of the May elections

Ferdinand Marcos Jr has faced at least eight complaints urging the Comelec to bar him. Photo: Reuters

The Philippines poll commission on Monday threw out a petition seeking to bar the son of the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos from running in this year's presidential election.

The Commission on Elections (Comelec) dismissed the complaint aimed at blocking Ferdinand Marcos Jr's candidacy papers, the lawyers in the petition said.

The case is just one of several filed with the Comelec seeking to disqualify the late dictator's son from running in this year's election.

Mr Marcos is the frontrunner for the May 9 election, opinion polls show, but has faced at least eight complaints urging the Comelec to bar him from running, mainly over a 1995 tax evasion conviction.

The Court of Appeals acquitted Mr Marcos of non-payment of the taxes in 1997, but it upheld the guilty verdict on failing to file tax returns.

Since the conviction, Mr Marcos has been elected governor, congressman and senator and ran unsuccessfully for the vice presidency. He remains hugely popular in northern parts of the Philippines and has a big social media following.

Despite its fall from grace, the Marcos family has retained vast wealth and powerful political connections, but its prominence has been a cause of anger to many who suffered under the notorious martial law era of his father's rule.