laepublic of tbe

QCourt
Jl!lanila
ENBANC
ABANG LINGKOD PARTY-LIST,
Petitioner,
-versus-
COMMISSION ON ELECTIONS,
Respondent.
X------------- ---------X
TO: COMMISSION ON ELECTIONS (x)
Intramuros, Manila
GREETINGS:
G.R. No. 206952
STATUS QUO ANTE
ORDER
WHEREAS, the Supreme Court, on June 5, 2013, adopted a
resolution in the above-entitled case, to wit:
G.R. No. 206952 (Abang Lingkod Party-List (Abang
Lingkod) vs. Commission on Elections). - This resolves the
prayer of Abang Lingkod Party-List (Abang Lingkod) for the
issuance of a writ of preliminary injunction and temporary
restraining order (TRO) and/or status quo ante order. In
support of its prayer for preliminary injunctive relief, Abang
Lingkod alleged that it will suffer grave and irreparable injury
unless the Commission on Elections (COMELEC) En Bane is
enjoined from enforcing and implementing its Resolution
1
dated
May 1 0, 2013, which delisted and disqualified A bang Lingkod
from participating as a party-list candidate for the May 13, 2013
elections.
Under the Rules of Court, the Court is authorized to issue
a TRO to preserve the status quo until the prayer for the
issuance of a writ of preliminary injunction is heard, provided
Rollo, pp. 30-36.
Status Quo Ante Order G.R. No. 206952
June 5, 2013
Thousand Five Hundred Ninety-Eight (258,598) votes, thus
entitling it to a seat in the House ofRepresentatives.
5
The clear import of the disqualification of Abang
Lingkod is that the votes cast in its favor would be considered
stray votes and, accordingly, would not be included in the total
number of votes cast for party-list candidates. This will
radically change the computation of percentage of votes
obtained by all party-list candidates and the allocation of seats
in favor of all the winning party-list groups. Clearly, there is
extreme urgency in enjoining the COMELEC from enforcing
and implementing its Resolution dated May 10, 2013.
It likewise cannot be gainsaid that great and irreparable
injury would be suffered by Abang Lingkod unless the
COMELEC Resolution dated May 10, 2013 is temporarily
enjoined. If this Court would not enjoin Abang Lingkod's
disqualification, the allocation of seats to winning party-list
groups would be based on the total number of votes cast for
party-list candidates sans those cast in favor of Abang Lingkod.
Should the Court later on reverse Abang Lingkod's
disqualification, it would entail a recomputation of the
percentage of votes obtained by all party-list candidates and, in
the process, some of the proclamations made by the
COMELEC would be nullified.
If the Court temporarily enJOins Abang Lingkod's
disqualification, the votes cast in its favor would be included in
computing the percentage of votes obtained by the party-list
candidates. Should the Court later on uphold the
disqualification of Abang Lingkod, all the COMELEC would
have to do is to deduct the number of votes it obtained from the
total number of votes cast for party-list candidates and adjust
the number of guaranteed and/or additional seats of the other
winning party-list groups.
Nevertheless, while the Court temporarily enJOins the
disqualification of Abang Lingkod, it should be stressed that the
same is only for the purpose of computing the percentage of
votes cast for each party-list candidates and the determination
of the number of seats to which the winning party-list groups
are entitled to. It would be more prudent if the COMELEC
were to hold in abeyance the proclamation of Abang Lingkod,
assuming that it is indeed entitled to a seat in the House of
Most Extremely Urgent Reiterative Motion for Issuance of Temporary Restraining Order (TRO)'
and/or Status Quo Ante Order dated May 23, 2013.
Resolution
Atty. Lyndon Gabriel C. Perez (x)
Counsel for Petitioner
Room 305, 3'd Floor MEDECOR Building
Ortigas Avenue, Greenhills
San Juan City
~ I C INFORMATION OFFICE (X)
Supreme Court
G.R. No. 206952
wmd 6/5/13 (adv 5) 6/6/13
G.R. No. 206952
June 5, 2013
The SOLICITOR GENERAL (x)
134 Amorsolo St., Legaspi Village
Makati City