Independent senatorial candidate Norman Cordero Marquez protested his non-inclusion in the ballot template of the Commission on Elections (Comelec) published today, Jan. 25, in the poll body’s website despite a Supreme Court (SC) order that stopped his declaration as a “nuisance candidate.”
Last Jan. 19, the SC issued a temporary restraining order (TRO) that stopped the Comelec from enforcing its Dec. 13, 2021 resolution which declared Marquez a “nuisance candidate” and cancelled his certificate of candidacy (COC) for the May 9, 2022 senatorial election.
With the TRO, the SC directed the Comelec to comment on Marquez’s petition within a non-extendible period of 10 days from receipt of the notice.
In his letter to Chief Justice Alexander G. Gesmundo, Marquez said:
“Notwithstanding the timely issuance from this Honorable Court of the Temporary Restraining Order (TRO), dated 19 January 2022, in connection with the Petition for Review on Certiorari with Writ of Injunction and Temporary Restraining Order (TRO), in today’s publication of the Comelec on their website, comelec.gov.ph, the Ballot Template did not include the name of Petitioner NORMAN MARQUEZ or NORMAN CORDERO MARQUEZ.”
He pointed out that a copy of the resolution which contains the TRO was sent last Jan. 19 by e-mail to various offices in the SC and the Comelec, particularly to the poll body’s Office of the Clerk of Court, Comelec Law Department, Office of the Executive Director, and Director James Arthur B. Jimenez, the Comelec’s spokesperson.
Marquez also said the SC’s resolution with TRO was also published in the court’s Twitter account last Jan. 19.
The e-mail transmissions to the Comelec, Marquez stressed, were acknowledged last Jan. 19 by the poll body ‘s Law Department and the Office of the Executive Director.
“May we know why the Comelec has defied with impunity the express Order of the Honorable Court (SC)?” Marquez asked Chief Justice Gesmundo.
It was not known immediately if the SC has acted on Marquez’s letter.
Pls read:
SC stops Comelec from cancelling COC of senatorial candidate Norman Marquez https://mb.com.ph/2022/01/19/sc-stops-comelec-from-cancelling-coc-of-senatorial-candidate-norman-marquez/