(SunStar) PHILIPPINE election officials dismissed on Thursday, February 10, 2022, three more petitions seeking to disqualify former senator Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. from the upcoming May elections in a ruling that removed a major obstacle to his candidacy, which human rights groups oppose.

Commission on Elections (Comelec) spokesperson James Jimenez said the three petitions against Marcos’s candidacy, which were consolidated into one case, were dismissed for lack of merit.

A final case remains pending, and petitioners of six dismissed cases have either appealed or intend to do so in a legal fight that will likely reach the Supreme Court as campaigning continues for the May 9 election.

The election commission rejected claims that Marcos Jr. should be removed from the presidential race and permanently barred from seeking public office due to a 1995 tax conviction and alleged falsehoods in his candidacy papers.