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THE
Supreme Court (SC) on Tuesday issued a status quo ante
order enjoining the Commission on Elections (Comelec)
from implementing its resolution ordering the revision
of ballots in the 4,847 precincts in the province of
Pampanga.
In a
two-page resolution, the Court en banc also ordered the
respondents—Comelec and losing gubernatorial candidate
Lilia Pineda—to comment on the petition filed by
Pampanga Gov. Eddie Panlilio seeking to declare null and
void the resolution issued by the poll body’s second
division on July 23, 2007 giving due course to Pineda’s
poll protest.
Panlilio
is also questioning the Comelec Second Division’s August
1, 2007, and February 6, 2008, orders which junked his
motion for reconsideration.
“Now,
therefore, effective immediately and continuing until
further orders from this Court, you, respondent
Commission on Elections, your agents, representatives,
or persons acting in your place or stead are hereby
enjoined from implementing your orders dated July 23,
2007, August 1, 2007, and February 6, 2008,” the
resolution said.
“The
Court has issued a status quo ante order, this means
while the case is pending here in the Supreme Court,
status quo should be maintained until the Court lifted
the order,” SC spokesman Jose Midas Marquez told
reporters.
In his
petition, Panlilio urged the tribunal to issue a writ of
preliminary injunction or a temporary restraining order,
or both, to stop the Comelec from implementing its
orders.
Panlilio
said Pineda’s election protest should have been
dismissed outright because, on its face, it is a “sham
protest.” The poll protest, he added, is based on “bare
and general allegations of fraud and irregularities.”
He noted
that the claim of Pineda that she was cheated in all
4,847 precincts without any objection from her watchers
or without question before the Boards of Election
Inspectors in the said precincts is “incredible and
unbelievable.” |
