The Supreme Court, the Comelec and the 2016 elections

OCCASIONS when institutions and pillars of our public life are brought together in one case before the high court are rare. We should treasure them as an opportunity for our citizenry to learn and understand the workings of our constitutional democracy.

In that light, we welcome the order issued by the Supreme Court to the Commission on Elections (COMELEC) to comment on the petitions filed by citizen groups, which seek to nullify the poll body’s holding of public biddings for the update and repair of voting machines for the 2016 elections. This case offers one glimmer of hope that sanity, order and legality can be made to prevail in the conduct of next year’s balloting.