THE Supreme Court (SC) yesterday issued a temporary restraining order (TRO) freezing the implementation of Commission on Elections (Comelec) ruling disqualifying three local officials from running in the 2025 elections.
The SC issued the TRO during its en banc session on Tuesday.
In issuing its decision, the High Court also ordered the consolidation of the petitions filed by dismissed Albay Gov. Noel Rosal, Cebu City Mayor Michael Rama, and Mandaue City Mayor Jonas Cortes.
“The Court ordered that the cases be consolidated. It also issued a temporary restraining order against the Comelec, which was ordered to comment on the petitions within a non-extendible period of 10 days from receipt of notice,” SC spokesperson Camille Ting said in a press briefing after the en banc session.
The three local officials, in separate petitions, challenged Comelec Resolution No.11044-A issued on September 4 disqualifying them from participating in next year’s polls after they were dismissed by the Office of the Ombudsman.
Rosal, who is running to reclaim Albay’s gubernatorial post, earlier filed a petition seeking to nullify the Comelec resolution barring him from running in next year’s election due to an administrative case despite his pending appeal.
He was dismissed from his post by the Ombudsman, which imposed an accessory penalty of perpetual disqualification from holding public office.
But he questioned the legality of the Comelec’s resolution, saying that he is still appealing the Ombudsman’s ruling.
Rama and Cortes also complained to the High Court that the Comelec exceeded its authority and created a new qualification for running for public office by barring them from running in the 2025 polls.
Rama was ordered dismissed by the Ombudsman for grave abuse and nepotism over his appointment of brothers in-law as city hall employees.
Cortes, who is seeking a fresh seat for his third and last term as mayor of Mandaue City, was dismissed by the Ombudsman for allowing an unpermitted cement batching plant to operate.
In another resolution, the SC en banc affirmed the disqualification of Rosal as governor of Albay, his wife Carmen Geraldine Rosal as mayor of Legazpi City, and Jose Alfonso Barizo as Legazpi City councilor during the 2022 national and local elections.
They were disqualified for violating the Omnibus Election Code in relation with the disbursement and release of government funds during the prohibited period before a regular election.
The en banc also dismissed the petition-in-intervention of Rosal’s rival for the gubernatorial post Al Francis Bichara in the said polls.
Meanwhile, the en banc directed the Comelec to “separately docket a disqualification proceeding” against Oscar Robert Cristobal to determine whether he is also disqualified from running for the office of vice mayor in the 2022 polls, “in view of his presence in the same cash assistance pay-outs during the prohibited period before a regular election, alongside the other petitioners in these consolidated cases.”
