The Commission on Elections (Comelec) said on Thursday, May 19 that it will comply with the instructions of the Supreme Court regarding the plea for a temporary restraining order (TRO) filed by Fr. Christian B. Buenafe et al.
Their petition pleaded the SC to stop the Senate and the House of Representatives (HOR) from canvassing the votes for Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. and proclaiming him as the country's 17th President.
In the resolution provided by the SC’s public information office (PIO), the poll body, along with Marcos Jr.,the Senate of the Philippines and the HOR were required to comment on the petition.
"As we had expressly stated in all briefings po, the COMELEC will comply with all orders decisions and resolutions of the Supreme Court and therefore, we shall file/submit our Comment accordingly," Acting Spokesperson John Rex C. Laudiangco said in a Viber message sent to reporters.
"As standard procedure po, COMELEC will be requesting OSG to represent us po in the SC Case above po," he added.
Fr. Christian B. Buenafe et al. filed a petition to cancel Marcos Jr.'s Certificate of Candidacy (COC) which, according to them, contains multiple false material representations.The case had a unanimous ruling on Jan. 17, and was denied for lack of merit.
A day after the elections, the Commission En Banc denied the Motion for Partial Reconsideration filed by them, stating that they failed to raise new matters that would warrant the reversal of the assailed resolution and reaffirmed the resolution of the former Second Division.
The petitioners then elevated the cases to the SC, challenging both the rulings on Jan. 17 and May 10.
Based on the last feed from the Transparency Media Server, Marcos Jr. is still leading the race for the country's top post with as much as 31,104,175 votes for the partial and unofficial count.