The Commission on Elections (Comelec) said Monday it will come out with the official list of candidates on January 7, 2022.
However, the actual printing of the list on the ballots—and thus the conduct of the elections themselves—were threatened by the appeals of party-list groups who sought relief from the Supreme Court.
Comelec spokesperson James Jimenez said it will still take some time for the poll body to finalize the list because there are still pending cases that Comelec is looking into.
“We expect that the list will be final by January 7. That is the target,” Jimenez said.
The official said “those that can be resolved should have been resolved by then. There will still be some pending issues.”
“For example, if there is a disqualification case, that normally takes some time. But cases regarding the removal of names in the list like those on cancellations and nuisance candidates should have been resolved,” he added.
But in a previous tweet, Comelec Commissioner Rowena Guanzon criticized party-list groups who went to SC for relief.
“Those who filed cases to stop Comelec from printing ballot numbers of party-list, I hope you realize what you have done. If ballots are not printed by January, the May elections is at risk,” she said.
Jimenez expressed confidence that the Comelec will resolve most of the pending petitions for nuisance candidates as well as the cancellations of the certificate of candidacy (COC) by the end of December.
However, Jimenez said other cases, like a more complicated disqualification case, will probably take longer to resolve.
Due to COVID-19 Jimenez said most of the nuisance cases are expected to be resolved without any physical hearings.
The Comelec said it has yet to determine the legal effects of the temporary restraining orders (TRO) the Supreme Court granted to seven party-list groups denied registration by the poll body.
Jimenez said Comelec “has to be clarified” on what exactly is the SC restraining them to do.
“We’re still waiting for the actual resolution to come out. We will see on the basis of that what the TROs effect will actually be. Because look, just to point out the situation we’re in if they’re temporarily restraining the raffle, eh tapos na yung raffle eh. So ano pa yung ire-restrain mo diyan?” Jimenez said, pertaining to the electronic raffle for ballot placement of approved party-list groups held last Dec. 14.
The Dec. 14 raffle excluded over 100 party-list groups whose applications for registration were denied with finality by the Comelec en banc.
Some of those rejected party-list groups individually sought a status quo ante order from the SC but it was only on Dec. 17 that the high court started granting them a different relief.
The seven rejected party-list groups granted TROs include Apat-Dapat, Uma Ilonggo Alliance for Resilience, Sustainability and Empowerment (ARISE), Igorot Warriors, Ang Tinig ng Seniors, Lingkud Bayanihan Party, and Mindanao Indigenous Peoples Conference for Peace and Development.
According to Jimenez, “we have a problem” if the SC’s TROs are aimed at preventing the printing of 2022 ballots set to start on January 12.