SC halts Comelec order vs SWS, Pulse Asia

MANILA, Philippines - The Supreme Court in an en banc decision Tuesday partially granted the petition by private pollsters Social Weather Stations and Pulse Asia against the Commission on Elections (Comelec).

The court issued a temporary restraining order on Comelec Resolution 9674 requiring the survey firms, which released election survey results, to disclose the identities of their subscribers.

Related: Survey firms seek SC relief on disclosure of subscribers

Supreme Court spokesperson Theodore Te announced that the magistrates required Comelec to comment on joint SWS and Pulse Asia petition objecting against the polling body's policy.

"Exact language is being formulated in the (court) resolution which will be issued by tomorrow," Te said on the court's Twitter account.

The two firms refused to comply with the Comelec order citing their "liberty and basic rights" in protecting the terms of contracts with their subscribers.

"Unless this Court intervenes, petitioners will be prosecuted for a crime created by Comelec that never existed before; subjected to a sham, baseless and improper preliminary investigation," the petition reads.