THE Supreme Court (SC) on Tuesday directed the Commission on Elections (Comelec) to reinstate the name of a former congressman, who had been initially excluded from the ballots for the May 2025 national and local elections.
Spokesperson Camille Sue Mae L. Ting, in a press briefing in Manila City, said the top court en banc ordered the polling body to include former Caloocan Second District Representative Edgar R. Erice’s name in the ballots for the next election as it issued a temporary restraining order (TRO) prohibiting it from disqualifying the former lawmaker.
“The SC also ordered the Comelec to comment on Erice’s petition within a non-extendible period of 10 days from receipt of notice,” she added.
Apart from Mr. Erice, the top court also issued TROs against the Comelec in the cases of Subair Guinthum Mustapha, Charles Savellano, Chito Bulatao Balintay, and Florendo De Ramos Ritualo, Jr.
Ms. Ting said the order is immediately executory.
The tribunal ordered Comelec to include all their names in the ballots despite the commencement of printing starting early last Jan. 6.
“Part of the process. We will have to find a way to comply with the SC directive,” Comelec Chairman George Erwin M. Garcia told reporters in a Viber chat.
“That is part of the implications, but we are now going to meet if indeed we are to suspend the printing in the meantime. The [Election Management System] will be changed, including the database, and we have to start again the serialization of each and every candidate’s name nationwide.”
The Comelec last December disqualified Mr. Erice due to his statements questioning the credibility of Miru Systems, the automated election system provider of the next polls.
Mr. Mustapha and Mr. Savellano were earlier declared by the poll body as nuisance candidates, while it rejected Mr. Balintay’s certificate of candidacy (CoC) as Zambales Governor. Comelec also canceled Mr. Ritualo’s CoC for a Sangguniang Panlungsod Member position. — Chloe Mari A. Hufana
