SC issues TROs vs Comelec decisions against 3 local bets

The Supreme Court (SC) has prevented the Commission on Elections (Comelec) from implementing its decisions against three local bets in the May 12 midterm polls.

In a statement on Friday, the SC said it issued a temporary restraining order on the Comelec resolution dismissing Marie Grace David’s petition for substitution and inclusion in the official list of candidates/ballots for vice mayor of Limay, Bataan.

The high court also stopped Comelec from implementing its resolutions declaring Mary Dominique Oñate a nuisance candidate for mayor of Palompon, Leyte.

It also temporarily blocked the resolutions canceling Aldrin Sta. Ana’s certificate of candidacy for mayor of Bocaue, Bulacan, and prevented the poll body from removing Sta. Ana from the list of candidates.

''We have yet to resume our printing so we have no problem complying with the SC injunctive writs at this point for local positions,'' Comelec Chairperson George Erwin Garcia said in response to the Court's action.

Earlier this week, Comelec suspended ballot printing due to an SC ruling that halted the disqualification of senatorial aspirant Subair Guinthum Mustapha, former Caloocan City Representative Edgar Erice, and other individuals.

Garcia disclosed that each ballot costs P22, putting the total cost of the six million wasted ballots at approximately P132 million. — VBL/ VDV, GMA Integrated News