The Supreme Court (SC) issued a temporary restraining order (TRO) on Tuesday against the ruling of the Commission on Elections (Comelec) denying the accreditation of a gay rights group to run for the upcoming party-list elections.

According to SC spokesperson Jose Midas Marquez, the high court took into considerations the allegations in the petition of “Ang Ladlad,” which the Comelec earlier disqualified from participating in the May polls on grounds of immorality.

“That means that Ang Ladlad will still be in the list of accredited party-list groups by Comelec,” Marquez said, adding that the Comelec was ordered to include its name in the ballots to be printed for the general elections in May.

Marquez, however, clarified that the SC will still decide on the merits of the case.

“We are aware that there’s a period where the Comelec will have to print the ballots. Kailangang umabot sa deadline of printing because if later on the SC decides that Ang Ladlad should be included it would be very difficult for Comelec to include it then.”

“For the time being, Ang Ladlad should be included,” Marquez stressed.

It was earlier reported that Comelec will start printing the ballots for the May polls on January 25.

In its petition for certiorari, the Ang Ladlad accused Comelec of grave abuse of discretion and violation of the Constitution and international laws.

Ang Ladlad took exception to the poll body’s declaration that it is advocating “sexual immorality” and “immoral doctrines.”

“The Comelec makes the most hostile of discriminations as it deprives Ang Ladlad accreditation using a standard of measure that makes an unwarranted and impermissible classification not justified by the circumstances of the case,” it pointed out.

The group noted that the Constitution, particularly Section 1 of Article III guarantees that “no person shall be deprived of life, liberty or property without due process of law, nor shall any person be denied the equal protection of the laws.”

Ang Ladlad argued that barring it from joining the party-list elections was in violations of “freedoms of speech, of expression, of the press and of peaceful assembly” and a “transgression of generally accepted principles of international law which are made part of the law of the land.”

The Comelec resolution, it said, was “contrary to principles enshrined in international human rights law, and constitutes a serious breach of Philippine States obligations under international law.”

It added that even the leadership of the Roman Catholic Church through the Vatican Council declared in 1965 that “human person has a right to religious freedom,” which means that “all men are to be immune from coercion on the part of individuals or of social groups and of any human power, in such wise that no one is to be forced to act in manner contrary to his own beliefs.”

The Vatican, it added, has also “publicly condemned violence and discrimination against homosexuals such as in penal legislation.”