Comelec says printing of ballots must be done ‘at all costs’ by April 14
The Commission on Elections (Comelec) is confident of finishing the printing of 73 million ballots for the May 12 elections by April as originally scheduled, despite the delays caused by the temporary restraining orders (TROs) granted by the Supreme Court to disqualified candidates.
“Our original timeline is April 14, and we should still be finished by April 14. In case we have to make an adjustment, we will think about it later. But in the meantime, we must and at all costs, finish printing by April 14,” Comelec Chair George Garcia said on Monday as the poll body resumed the printing of ballots at the National Printing Office (NPO) in Quezon City.
Six machines will be used to produce the target of 1.5 million printed ballots a day—four from the NPO and two procured by election service provider, South Korean firm Miru Systems Inc.,— to make up for the three-week delay.
Before printing was postponed due to the TROs secured by candidates who had been disqualified by Comelec, the poll body was printing only at a pace of nearly a million ballots daily.
“The printed ballots will not all be perfect. There will be defective ballots that will need to be reprinted. At the same time, the most difficult task is to ship out election paraphernalia to different parts of our country, especially in remote areas,” Garcia said.
The Comelec also deployed more than 800 personnel to supervise the printing.
“These 73 million ballots will not only go through the machines, but through the eyes of our personnel to find out if their size is right, the color is right, the names of the candidates are in the right order, and if the circles before the names of the candidates are correct,” Garcia said.
He added that the Comelec also sent a letter to the Supreme Court anew to inform it of the resumption of the printing of ballots.
6M ballots wasted
Six million ballots that were printed from Jan. 6 to Jan. 14, amounting to P132 million, had to be discarded following the high court’s order to include the name of Subair Mustapha of the Workers and Peasants Party among the official senatorial candidates.
Printing was supposed to resume on Jan. 22, but it was pushed back again after senatorial aspirant Francis Leo Marcos, who had also secured a TRO from the high tribunal, officially withdrew from the race.
The Comelec on Sunday uploaded on its website the new ballot faces for the 2025 elections, with 66 senatorial candidates and 156 party list groups, as well as the local aspirants vying for provincial, municipality and congressional district seats.
