PDP-Laban’s bid to have the certificate of candidacy (COC) filing period reopened by the Commission on Elections (Comelec) will have to wait for another week.
The Comelec en banc has opted to defer its ruling on the petition filed by President Duterte’s political party.
“The en banc deferred resolution of the petition for the reopening of the period for filing COCs,” Comelec spokesman James Jimenez said in a brief announcement.
“It is expected that the matter will be resolved next week, with all points raised by the petition being squarely addressed,” he added.
In a 20-page petition, the PDP-Laban wing of Energy Secretary Alfonso Cusi asked the Comelec last December 31 to reopen the COC filing period, which ended last October 8.
The political party claimed the period of filing of COCs should have been January 9, 2022, at the earliest, and February 7 and March 24, 2022 for candidates for national and local positions, respectively, at the latest.
Jimenez also said the petition to postpone the May 2022 elections has yet to be tackled by the Comelec en banc.
Last month, the National Coalition for Life and Democracy (NCLD) asked the Comelec to postpone the next elections due to the threat of COVID-19.
