Chief Justice Reynato Puno said the court en banc could not yet decide on the issue until the Commission on Elections (Comelec) and the party-list groups submit their respective memoranda.
Since the oral arguments last April 23, Puno said no memoranda have been submitted by either party.
Puno was in Baguio last Monday to attend the fund-raising activity of a local hotels' group.
The Chief Justice assured once the memoranda are submitted, the junking of the first party rule will be discussed lengthily by the magistrates.
Party-list groups have petitioned the SC to declare the first party rule of the Comelec unconstitutional.
The party-list groups argued, over five million voters will be disenfranchised if the first party rule is implemented.
The first party rule allows only the top party list groups to have three seats in Congress while succeeding party-lists will only have two seats.
Buhay was the top party-list in 2007 elections.
Another party-list group, Bayan Muna said the first party rule violates the Constitution, which provides 20 percent of the total number of seats in Congress should be allotted to party-list representatives.
During oral arguments, Bayan Muna also asked the SC to disallow major political parties from seeking positions in the party list roster, claiming these groups do not represent marginalized sectors.
In the meantime, Puno said the SC is awaiting the comment of the Office of the Solicitor General relative to the Senate's appeal on the decision of former planning secretary now Commission on Higher Education chairman Romulo Neri is covered by executive privilege when he refused to appear before a senate inquiry, concerning the national broadband network (NBN)-ZTE deal.
Only Neri has so far submitted his comment, Puno said. (RO)
