MANILA – The Supreme Court (SC) on Tuesday issued a temporary restraining order (TRO) against a recent ruling of the Commission on Elections (Comelec) allowing public appointive officials to continue holding office even after being nominated as party-list representatives.
“The Court granted the prayer for TRO, effective immediately. Comelec is enjoined from implementing Section 11 of its Resolution No. 11045. All parties are required to observe the status quo. Public appointive officials are deemed resigned upon filing their certificate of candidacy,” SC spokesperson Camille Ting said in a press conference.
The SC also ordered the poll body to comment on the petition within a non-extendible period of 10 days from notice.
Last month, election lawyer Romulo Macalintal asked the SC to declare as unconstitutional Section 11, Rule II of Comelec Resolution No. 11045 dated Aug. 28, 2024 which, among others, provides that “public officials who accept a nomination as a party-list representative may continue to hold office even after acceptance of their nomination.”
Macalintal’s suit argued that the rule violates Section (4), Article IX-B of the Constitution and existing jurisprudence that “no officer in the civil service shall engage, directly or indirectly, in any electioneering or partisan political activity.”
“In previous elections, such as in the 2022 national and local elections, the Comelec has been very consistent in its rule that public appointive officials shall be considered ipso facto resigned from office and must vacate the same upon the filing of Certificates of Nomination and Acceptance of Nomination in party-list elections as provided in its August 2021 Resolution No. 10717,” Macalintal said.
He said it is “unbelievable” that the Comelec would suddenly deviate from the rules.
“The assailed rule of the Comelec, if not stopped by the Supreme Court, will open the floodgates to a number of high-ranking government officials to seek nomination as nominees of party-list groups, giving them full advantage in the political field to the damage and prejudice of candidates not connected with the government.”
The Comelec, meanwhile, welcomed the high court’s move.
“We welcome the issuance of the injunctive writ. As we said before, we support the filing of the petition to the extent of hopefully clarifying certain gray areas in the law and existing jurisprudence,” Comelec chairperson George Erwin Garcia said in a message to reporters. (with Ferdinand Patinio/PNA)