SC Requires COMELEC to Comment on Smartmatic Petition
December 18, 2023
The Supreme Court has issued a Resolution requiring the Commission on Elections (COMELEC) En Banc, Eliseo Mijares Rio, Jr., Augusto Cadeliña Lagman, Franklin Fayloga Ysaac, and Leonardo Olivero Odoño to file their respective Comments on the Petition for Certiorari (With Extremely Urgent Application for the Issuance of a Temporary Restraining Order and/or Writ of Preliminary Injunction) filed against them by Smartmatic TIM Corporation and Smartmatic Philippines, Inc. (collectively, Smartmatic), within a non-extendible period of 10 days from notice.
The Court required personal filing and service of the Comments. The Court also directed the Process Serving Unit of the Office of the Clerk of Court En Banc to personally serve the Court’s Resolution on the respondents.
The petition assails the COMELEC En Banc’s November 29, 2023 Resolution in E.M. No. 23-003 which disqualified and disallowed Smartmatic from participating in the bidding process for the Automated Election System for the 2025 National and Local Elections, and in any public bidding process for elections. (Courtesy of the Supreme Court Public Information Office)
FULL TEXT of the Court’s December 18, 2023 Resolution in G.R. No. 270564 (Smartmatic TIM Corporation and Smartmatic Philippines, Inc. v. Commission on Elections En Banc, Eliseo Mijares Rio, Jr., Augusto Cadeliña Lagman, Franklin Fayloga Ysaac, and Leonardo Olivero Odoño) at: https://sc.judiciary.gov.ph/270564-smartmatic-v-comelec-et-al-20231218/