PUERTO PRINCESA CITY, Philippines – The Commission on Elections (Comelec) formally received Monday the court order to facilitate the registration of detained murder suspects, former Palawan Governor Joel T. Reyes and his brother Mario, who had recently filed their certificates of candidacy (COC) in Coron, northern Palawan.
Comelec Palawan information officer Jomel Ordas said the court order has yet to be acted upon by the provincial poll body and that the court had given them 15 days to comply with the order.
He said provincial election officer Orlando Baalan was still in Manila and has yet to read the order.
The order, issued by Puerto Princesa Regional Trial Court (RTC) Branch 52 Judge Angelo Arizala, followed a petition filed by Joel and Mario Reyes to update their voter’s profile after they filed their COC last week for mayor and vice mayor, respectively, of Coron.
The brothers, both detained at the Puerto Princesa City Jail, filed their COCs through a representative.
The Inquirer also learned that the municipal Comelec body had previously received a petition to reactivate the Reyes brothers’ voter status after their names were stricken off the voters’ list for failure to vote in the last two polling exercises.
Their application for reactivation was due for hearing in Coron in November, according to municipal election officer Clemen Pinoon.
Reyes filed his candidacy for mayor with his brother as his running mate. Joel’s wife, Clara, however, also filed a separate COC for vice mayor during the last day of filing for COC on Friday last week.
Clara Reyes is the incumbent mayor of Coron. It was not known if she or her brother-in-law will eventually withdraw their candidacies or if they will run opposite each other.
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