SC orders parties in barangay polls postponement case to file memos

The Supreme Court (SC) on Friday ordered veteran election lawyer Romulo Macalintal, Commission on Elections (Comelec), and the Office of the President to submit their memoranda after the oral arguments on the petition challenging the law postponing the barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan elections (BSKE).

SC orders parties in Macalintal v. COMELEC and Office of the President (G.R. No. 263590) to file memoranda; also orders respondents in a similar petition (G.R. No. 263590) to file comment. READ: Press Briefer pic.twitter.com/UfwuaoFdkx

— Philippine Supreme Court Public Information Office (@SCPh_PIO) October 21, 2022

The high court required the involved parties to submit their respective memoranda within 15 days from Friday, October 21.

Macalintal earlier filed a petition urging the SC to order the Comelec and the Office of the President to cease and desist from implementing Republic Act 11935.

The law moved the BSKE from December 2022 to October 2023.

Chief Justice Alexander Gesmundo instructed the Comelec to include in its memorandum the possible dates of elections should the SC issue a temporary restraining order on the implementation of the law.

The High Court said that another petition questioning the constitutionality of the RA 11935 was also filed before the court on October 20.

“The said petition was consolidated with G.R. No. 263590. Upon deliberation, the Court resolved to require the respondents in G.R. No. 263673 to file their respective comments on the Petition for Certiorari Prohibition and Mandamus with Prayer for Immediate Issuance of Mandatory Temporary Restraining Order and Preliminary Injunction within 15 days from receipt of written notice, by personal filing and service,” the SC said.

“The SC Public Information Office will upload the Resolution to the Court's website as soon as it receives an official copy from the Office of the Clerk of Court En Banc,” it added.

During the SC's oral arguments, Comelec chairperson George Garcia said the poll body has suspended the printing of the ballots for the supposed December 2022 BSKE upon President Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr.'s signing of the law resetting the local polls to October 2023.

Garcia also informed the magistrates that they cannot proceed with the procurement of other election paraphernalia as there is already a law that postponed the December 2022 polls. Hence, there might be no legal basis for their purchases.—LDF, GMA News