COMELEC EYES REPRINTING 1.5 MILLION BALLOTS DAILY STARTING JANUARY 27


Comelec has moved the resumption of the printing of ballots on Monday January 27, revising its earlier target of January 25 (Photo courtesy of Philippine Star)
The Commission on Elections (Comelec) pushed back anew the reprinting of the official ballots for the May 12 elections from Friday (January 24) to Monday (January 27), following the withdrawal of senatorial aspirant Francis Leo Marcos.
Comelec Chairman George Garcia said they were supposed to start “but because of his withdrawal, Comelec will ask for two to three more days because we will update our database, and at the same time, we will serialize the ballots and change the ballot faces.”
"We won't be pushing through with our restart tomorrow (Friday)... Most probably, we will restart the ballot printing on Monday morning," he added.
Garcia added they would now use all the National Printing Office printers and two new Miru machines to meet the 1.5 million production capacity.
He also urged other candidates who have plans to withdraw from the race to do so by Friday noon to give way to the updating of ballot faces before Monday’s reprinting of ballots.
The printing of over six million ballots already began on January 6, but these would have to be discarded since the Supreme Court (SC) issued a temporary restraining orders to disqualify or declare as nuisance candidates several national and local aspirants.
"The Comelec commitment is first, respect the honorable Supreme Court; second, follow the directive of the honorable Supreme Court and third, allow all TROs to be implemented by the Comelec," Garcia said.
So far, the court has not issued any TRO involving party-lists. He hopes any additional restraining order would not involve candidates for national positions, like senators and party-list groups. “It would be easier for us if it is local because it is only in a particular area.”
The SC reversed the poll body’s ruling and it cost the Comelec P132 million since it was compelled to reprint the ballots.
Source: Philippine News Agency
Be part of ImHenyo community!
Get featured by sharing your stories, news, and comments
Email us at [email protected]
NEWS















Comments