SC voids Comelec order permitting late substitution of Guanzon as nominee

MANILA, Philippines — The Supreme Court docket has granted a petition eradicating retired Fee on Elections (Comelec) Commissioner Rowena Guanzon from the listing of nominees of the Komunidad ng Pamilya, Pasyente at Individuals with Disabilities (P3PWD) occasion listing group which secured a congressional seat within the 2022 nationwide elections.

In a 41-page resolution on G.R. Nos. 261123 and 261876, the excessive court docket nullified Comelec Minute Decision No. 22-0774 which allowed the substitution of Guanzon, who had simply retired from the ballot physique on the time.

The Supreme Court docket ordered P3PWD to submit extra nominees however prohibited the renomination of Guanzon (first nominee), in addition to Rosalie Garcia (second), Cherrie Belmonte-Lim (third), Donnabel Tenorio (fourth), and Rodolfo Villar Jr. (fifth).

In response to the excessive tribunal, the Comelec decision was issued with grave abuse of discretion because it permitted the substitution of P3PWD nominees past the deadline set by the ballot physique.

The Supreme Court docket additionally declared as everlasting the momentary restraining order it issued on June 29, 2022, towards Guanzon’s substitution, stopping the implementation of the Comelec decision.

Majority vote

The ballot physique had permitted, by a “majority vote,” the occasion listing group’s request to withdraw the nominations of its authentic roster composed of Grace Yeneza, Ira Paulo Pozon, Marianne Heidi Cruz Fullon, Peter Jonas David, and Lily Grace Tiangco. It additionally sought to interchange them with Guanzon, Garcia, Belmonte-Lim, Tenorio and Villar.

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The Supreme Court docket, nonetheless, famous a sample of “whimsicality and arbitrariness” within the actions of the approving commissioners relating to the substitution of P3PWD’s nominees.

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“Somewhat than selling free, orderly and sincere elections, the Comelec en banc shamelessly allowed itself for use as a device in perpetuating a scheme,” the excessive court docket stated in its Aug. 20 resolution, penned by Affiliate Justice Ricardo Rosario however made public solely on Wednesday.

Affiliate Justices Jhosep Lopez and Alfredo Benjamin Caguioa, nonetheless, dissented.

In his dissenting opinion, Lopez argued that “it could be an egregious error to acknowledge P3PWD’s proper to pick out its nominees and, on the similar time, restrain its freedom of affiliation by stopping the nomination of Guanzon, Garcia, Belmonte-Lim, Tenorio and Villar.”