The Supreme Court has affirmed the decisions of the Commission on Elections disqualifying seven presidential candidates in the May national elections.
In its en banc session on Tuesday, the SC dismissed the separate petitions filed by Rizalito David, Elly Pamatong, Juanita Trocenio, Ephraim Defino, Buenafe Briggs, Antonio Obiña and Luisito Falcon questioning the decisions of the Comelec to cancel their Certificates of Candidacy for president.
“The Court, in minute resolutions, uniformly dismissed the petitions on the ground that the Comelec did not act with grave abuse of discretion,” SC spokesman Theodore Te said in a statement.
David, who filed the disqualification case against Senator Grace Poe in the Senate Electoral Tribunal, earlier petitioned his disqualification before the SC assailing the Comelec ruling that he is a nuisance candidate.
Pamatong, self-proclaimed US Armed Forces in the Far East general, also insisted on his presidential poll with a petition before the SC. He ran in the 2004 and 2010 presidential polls and was also disqualified in both instances.
The tribunal dismissed their petitions outright, seeing no need to first require an answer from the Comelec.
Another candidate disqualified by the Comelec was vice presidential bet Nid Anima, who also filed his petition before the high court.
The candidate, who claimed to be from “Aasenso Sabungero” party-list and to know the secret of how to campaign in elections without spending, likewise questioned his disqualification by the Comelec.
The SC also dismissed his petition outright and upheld his disqualification.
The tribunal also resolved to dismiss the petitions of four party-list groups disqualified by the poll body—Mindanao Alliance for Reforms, Bagong Alyansang Manggagawang Pangtransportasyon Para sa Edukasyon at Reporma, Political Party of the People’s Movement for Democratic Governance and Aasenso sa Barangay.
It held that the Comelec was correct in dismissing the groups’ respective petitions for party-list registration and accreditation for the 2016 polls.
However, the SC gave due course to the petitions of disqualified party-list groups Vieva Farmers Coalition and Scholarship ng Masa. In separate resolutions, it ordered the Comelec to explain its rulings rejecting petitioners’ registration as party-list groups.