MANILA — A controversial party-list group rejected with finality by the Commission on Elections (Comelec) was granted relief by the Supreme Court (SC) Wednesday, increasing its chances of being included in the ballot printing pending the resolution of its appeal.

• 2 more party-lists granted SC relief vs Comelec rejection

Abante Sambayan, a party-list group claiming to represent former communist rebels, secured a temporary restraining order (TRO) against the Comelec, which junked their application for registration, effectively disqualifying them from the Halalan 2022 race.

READ: TRO in G.R. No. 258369 (Abante Sambayanan v COMELEC) pic.twitter.com/RIRV9zZo3s

— Philippine Supreme Court Public Information Office (@SCPh_PIO) December 29, 2021

In a tweet, the SC confirmed granting TRO vs the poll body in favor of Abante Sambayanan. A separate TRO was also granted to another rejected party-list group Ayuda Sa May Kapansanan, Inc.

The SC asked Comelec to comment on the petitions filed by the 2 party-list groups within 10 days.

Aside from the 2, the SC has granted TROs in favor of 7 rejected party-list groups.

• Apat-Dapat
• Uma Ilonggo
• Alliance for Resilience, Sustainability and Empowerment (ARISE)
• Igorot Warriors
• Ang Tinig ng Seniors
• Lingkud Bayanihan Party
• Mindanao Indigenous Peoples Conference for Peace and Development

In a statement, Abante Sambayanan first nominee Jeffrey "Ka Eric" Celiz, who claims to be a former New People's Army (NPA) member, lauded the SC's TRO.

"Abante Sambayanan is going to join now the 2022 party-list elections and will keep the flame of our advocacy alive and burning... as we defeat and reject resoundingly the CPP-NPA-NDF kamatayan party-list groups," Celiz said, referring to the Makabayan bloc.

The Communist Party of the Philippines, (CPP), the political arm of NPA, has denied knowing Celiz, whom they claimed to be a "paid hack" the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC).

• Personalities with NTF-ELCAC ties vie for partylist seats in #Halalan2022

The Comelec earlier admitted it has yet to determine the legal effects of the SC's TROs in favor of the rejected party-list groups.

• 'We have a problem': Comelec seeks clarity from SC over TROs for rejected party-lists