Comelec suspends court ruling vs. Maguindanao town mayor

COTABATO CITY, Philippines - The Commission on Elections restrained on Monday Regional Trial Court Judge Bansawan Ibrahim from enforcing his October 18 decision unseating the town mayor of Parang town in Maguindanao based on an electoral fraud complaint by a rival.

Lawyer Kirby Abdullah, counsel of Parang Mayor Ibrahim Ibay, said the Comelec, in its technical restraining order, asked Talib Abo, Sr., whom  the RTC here declared as winner in the 2010 mayoral polls in Parang, to file his answer to the TRO within 10 days from receipt of the document.

Abo protested Ibay’s proclamation as elected mayor of Parang in 2010, citing “irregularities” in the area’s May 2010 mayoral race, which resulted to his defeat.

Hundreds of Ibay’s supporters staged separate rallies last month at the town proper of Parang and at the premises of the RTC inside the 32-hectare compound here in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao to show indignation over the court ruling that declared Abo as the duly elected mayor of the town.

Ibay, in a text message, said the TRO will be served Tuesday to the RTC to compel the court to suspend its ruling on the Ibay-Abo electoral case.

“We shall distribute copies of the TRO to the ARMM’s local government deparment, to the office of ARMM Gov. Mujiv Hataman, to the banks where we keep the money of our local government unit after the RTC receives the TRO,” Ibay said.

Ibay, a member of the Liberal Party, is a seeking re-election, while Abo's son, Talib Abo, Jr., is gunning for Parang’s mayoral post in next year’s elections.