Metro Manila, Philippines – The Commission on Elections (Comelec) has resumed printing ballots for the May elections on Monday, Jan. 27, keeping its April 14 deadline intact despite weeks of delay.
In a press briefing, Comelec Chairman George Garcia said the poll body is pressed for time to print over 70 million ballots.
The Comelec suspended printing on Jan. 14 due to a Supreme Court stay order on a number of election-related cases, prompting it to update the ballot list.
Printing was supposed to resume on Jan. 22 but was deferred to Jan. 24 due to a new court stay order. The target was reset again after Francis Leo Marcos, a senatorial candidate, backed out from the race.
Six million ballots have been previously destroyed worth around P132 million.
“Kapos na po kami sa panahon. Iyong po nawala samin napakahirap po na basta basta irecover yan,” Garcia said.
[Translation: We don’t have much time. It’s hard to recover losses.]
On Monday, the poll body signed a memorandum of agreement with the National Printing Office (NPO), which the commission delegated to fast-track ballot printing.
NPO and poll technology provider Miru Systems will be in charge of printing, including the final testing and sealing of ballots. Miru Systems will print ballots for Luzon, while the NPO will print ballots for the Visayas and Mindanao.
“Mas malayo, mas una na-iimprenta. Mas malayo kasi mas mauna din kasi na pagpapadala ng kagamitan,” said Garcia.
[Translation: Ballot printing for far areas would get priority. We’ll deliver paraphernalia first to these areas.]
Comelec said it will not reprint ballots should more candidates withdraw from the elections, such that votes for them will be considered stray.
But what if the court issues another stay order?
“Basta ang amin pa rin, pagsunod at pagtalima sa ating kataas-taasang hukuman and therefore basta at this point nagpaalam na mag-imprenta tayo ng balota,” said Garcia.
[Translation: What’s important to us is to follow the high court. We already told the court that we will start reprinting ballots.]
The Comelec said it aims to print 1.5 million ballots per day. Operations will be 24/7, with 800 personnel from the commission tasked for ballot verification.
