Comelec gets TRO on Kabunsuan row

BAGUIO CITY – The Supreme Court has restrained the Commission on Elections (Comelec) from carrying out its order and two resolutions on the gubernatorial dispute in Shariff Kabunsuan province.

The poll body issued the twin resolutions last Feb. 1 and 27 and order on April 3 for the reconvening of the board of canvassers for the recount of contested votes in the gubernatorial race between Datu Bimbo Sinsuat Jr. and Datu Tucao Mastura.

The SC acted on Sinsuat’s petition seeking a temporary restraining order against the Comelec move, but directed him to post a P10,000 bond within five days.

Both Sinsuat and Mastura have claimed to have won the gubernatorial race in Shariff Kabunsuan, a newly created province in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao. 

The poll dispute has become controversial as it was linked to the recent successive killings of two heads of the poll body’s legal department.  – Artemio Dumlao