The Manila Times

Comelec junks Cusi’s petition

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THE Commission on Elections (Comelec) on Wednesday denied for lack of merit the petition filed by the PDP-Laban Cusi wing headed by Energy Secretary Alfonso Cusi to reopen the filing of certificat­es of candidacy (CoCs) and postpone the printing of ballots for the May 9 national elections.

Comelec spokesman James Jimenez said the decision will put to rest speculatio­ns that the petition was a prelude to a no election scenario.

“It was a unanimous decision. Both of them were resounding­ly denied [by the en banc],” Jimenez said.

“The decision was anchored on the fact that the grounds provided by the petition[s] were not meritoriou­s,” he added.

Also dismissed by the Comelec was the petition filed by the Coalition for Life and Democracy party seeking to postpone the 2022 polls to 2025, citing the threat of the highly transmissi­ble Omicron variant of Covid-19.

Jimenez said the petition filed by Cusi was anchored on a wrong premise by stating that the printing of ballots should wait until the pending disqualifi­cation cases were settled.

“It was short of saying that the Comelec was arbitrary in setting [the election] timetable. We showed that it was not arbitrary. Because of it, the ground raised by the petition was not meritoriou­s and was denied,” he said.

“That is a wrong assertion. This is not the first time that we will be going to print pending [decision] on disqualifi­cation [cases],” he added.

Jimenez said the petition did not take into considerat­ion the other preparator­y activities by the Comelec, adding the final list of candidates will be made final on January 15 and the printing of ballots would commence on January 17.

The Cusi wing filed the petition last December, arguing that the Comelec ended the filing of CoC too soon, giving the party no time “to remedy the political vacuum” created by the withdrawal of Sen. Ronald dela Rosa as the party’s presidenti­al candidate and Sen. Christophe­r Lawrence “Bong” Go as vice presidenti­al candidate.

Jimenez said the dispute inside PDP-Laban remains unresolved.

“Both sides are still running under that political party. It’s a status quo. We are waiting for resolution,” he said.

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