Commission on Elections (COMELEC) First Division presiding Rowena Guanzon on her Facebook live, January 26, explained the reason why the disqualification case against presidential bet Bongbong Marcos has not yet released the resolution on time due to allegations against her.

The commissioner denied the allegation that she is merely waiting for her retirement and has paid to delay the case of Marcos. She reassured the public that she is working on having zero backlogs before she retires and hopes that the Marcos case would not be an exemption.

Set to retire on February 2, she even expressed that it is unfair to accuse them of favoring one party due to the delay of the ruling, but understood why the public is anxious due to the case being raffled last January 10, when according to the COMELEC internal rules, a resolution should be made in 15 days.

Rowena Guanzon revealed that her separate opinion on the disqualification case against the former senator was finished on January 17. She will release her ruling on either Friday, January 28, or Monday, January 31.

Dito po sa amin sa Commision on Elections, nira-raffle po ang kaso, napupunta po iyan sa Commissioner na kung tawagin po natin ay ponente,” Guanzon stated, even adding that she does not insist on who will be the ponente, and reiterating that what the ponente wrote is not the final ruling given that everyone shares a separate opinion.

The assigned ponente said that the resolution was delayed because her assigned lawyer tested positive for COVID-19. She was in close contact and required to undergo quarantine.

“Let’s give the Commissioner a couple of days to submit so we can cast our vote because her quarantine period has already ended,” Guanzon said.