The Supreme Court (SC) has stopped temporarily the Commission on Elections (Comelec) from dismissing the petitions for registration filed by two party-list groups for the 2022 elections.
The temporary restraining orders (TROs) were issued by Chief Justice Alexander G. Gesmundo for the Alliance for Resilience, Sustainabilty and Empowerment (ARISE) and the Igorot Warriors International, Inc. (IWI).
It was learned that a third party-list group, the Ang Tinig ng Seniors Citizens, Inc., had also asked the SC to nullify the Comelec’s order and resolution against its registration.
However, the resolution which also reportedly contained a TRO has not been released by the SC on the senior citizens’ petition.
ARISE challenged Comelec’s order dated last Aug. 11 in Case No. 21-087 and Resolution No. 1075 dated last Dec. 1. The order and the resolution, dismissed ARISE’s petition for registration and its motion for reconsideration, respectively.
In the case of IWI, assailed were Comelec’s order issued last Sept. 22 in Case No. 21-137 and the resolution dated last Dec. 1.
In the two cases, the Comelec was ordered to file its comment within a non-extendible period of 10 days from receipt of the resolutions.
In almost identical resolutions that granted the pleas for TRO, the SC found that the petitions “were sufficient in form and substance.”
With the TROs, the SC enjoined the Comelec from “enforcing its orders and resolutions.”
Copies of the petitions filed by the three party-list group were not immediately available and, thus, their arguments could not be published.
The Comelec had released the party-list groups which would be allowed to participate in the 2022 elections.
It said that 165 party-list groups, including those with pending resolutions, participated in the raffle last Dec. 10.