MANILA, Philippines – A dozen party-list groups which were barred by the Commission on Elections (Comelec) from participating in the 2022 polls secured temporary restraining orders (TROs) from the Supreme Court (SC).

The latest to successfully seek relief from the High Court on Thursday, January 6, were Laban ng Isang Bayan para sa Reporma at Oportunidad (Libro), Ako Breeder, and Friends of the Poor and Jobless (FPJ).

All 12 groups have been added to the Comelec’s final list of party-list groups that would appear on the ballot.

The full list can be seen below:

A TRO basically prevents the Comelec from implementing a resolution that stated the party-list groups that could not join the December 14 raffle, which was held to determine the order their names would appear on the ballot.

But the raffle was already over when the TROs were issued, and the Comelec was insistent against a repeat of the raffle, so what the poll body did was place the names of the concerned party-list groups at the bottom of the list.

A total of 178 groups have been assigned a ballot number, 166 of which were party-list groups that took part in the December 14 raffle.

The Comelec began the practice of raffling off party-list slots in the 2013 elections, so that party-list groups with names starting with “1” or “A” would not automatically appear on top of the ballot.

The printing of the ballots for the 2022 automated polls will begin in mid-January. – Rappler.com