SC: Polling firms must say who financed survey

The Supreme Court. INQUIRER.net FILE PHOTO

The Supreme Court has upheld the Commission on Elections (Comelec) resolution requiring survey firms to disclose who commissioned and paid for surveys, even as it barred the Comelec from prosecuting two survey firms that violated the order.

In a unanimous vote in their first full meeting at their annual summer session in Baguio City, the justices affirmed Comelec Resolution No. 9674 which mandates the disclosure.

But in the same breath, the high court stopped the Comelec from penalizing polling firms Social Weather Stations and Pulse Asia Inc. for failing to comply with the order.

The court issued the ruling yesterday, partially granting the petition the private survey firms had filed shortly before the May 2013 elections in a bid to nullify the Comelec resolution.

The two polling firms had brought the matter up to the Supreme Court, asserting that disclosure of their clients’ identities would violate their contracts.

“The petition is partially granted… Comelec Resolution No. 9674 is upheld; respondent Comelec is enjoined from prosecuting petitioners for their supposed violation of the resolution in respect of their nonsubmission of the names of all commissioners and payors, including subscribers, of surveys published during the campaign period for the 2013 elections,” read the dispositive portion of the court’s ruling.

The full decision has yet to be released.