Court junks Gordon's TRO petition against pollsters

A Quezon City court has junked the petition of Bagumbayan presidential candidate Sen. Richard Gordon seeking to stop pollsters from releasing preferential survey results regarding the May 10 elections. In an order dated April 30, Judge Bayani Vargas of the Quezon City Regional Trial Court Branch 219 said the court does not have jurisdiction to issue a temporary restraining order against Pulse Asia and the Social Weather Stations (SWS). Last April 22, Gordon asked the court to issue an order that would temporarily restrain the pollsters from conducting surveys and releasing their results to the public. It is the Commission on Elections (Comelec), and not the courts, that has the authority to decide on the matter based on provisions under the Fair Elections Act, Vargas said. “Considering that the authority to enforce and implement the said law pertains to the Comelec, to the court’s mind, the jurisdiction to rule on the issue brought before this court also belongs to the said body," Vargas said in a three-page ruling. As for the senator's request to issue a writ of preliminary injunction, the court said its jurisdiction of the matter "was highly doubtful." The judge said it would be "futile" to still proceed hearing Gordon's petition because the Supreme Court had already ruled on the issue of banning survey results in a decision in May 2001. In its ruling, the Supreme Court invalidated the provisions under the Fair Elections Act banning the release of surveys, saying it would constitute prior restraint, in violation of the freedom of expression. "How can the court issue an order restraining the poll firms when in fact as ruled by the Supreme Court, even the Comelec cannot regulate those firms," Vargas told GMANews.TV over the phone. However, the court clarified that it can still rule on Gordon's request seeking P650,000 in damages and attorney's fees. With both "injunctive remedies" denied, the court will now proceed hearing the main case on damages. "Pero sa tingin ko matatagalan pa iyan [But I think it will take a long time before the case gets resolved]," Vargas admitted. Pre-election surveys have shown that Gordon had been getting only two to three percent voters’ preference. But in his 26-page complaint, the senator claimed the "enthusiasm and approval of the huge crowds" in his campaign sorties disprove his low ratings. He also questioned the pollsters’ research methods, which he said were flawed, outdated, and unreliable. Gordon acused the SWS and Pulse Asia of giving their respondents only two choices for president, namely Senators Benigno Aquino III and Manuel Villar Jr. — the frontrunners in the surveys. In response to Gordon's complaint, both the SWS and Pulse Asia said it was the Comelec which has jurisdiction over the release of election preferential surveys. Pulse Asia earlier told GMANews.TV that it does not favor any candidate in the conduct of their surveys. "We’re nonpartisan. We are an academic organization and our surveys are noncommissioned," said Pulse Asia president Ronald Holmes. - RJAB Jr., GMANews.TV