MANILA. The Commission on Elections (Comelec) announced on Sunday that it will restart printing official ballots for the 2025 national and local elections on Wednesday, January 22. The printing process, which was initially halted due to a Supreme Court (SC) order, has been significantly delayed, according to Comelec Chairman George Garcia.
In a radio interview with Super Radyo dzBB, Garcia confirmed that the Comelec plans to maximize all available resources at the National Printing Office (NPO) to recover lost time.
“This coming Wednesday, we will start printing ballots again. It’s back to zero,” said Garcia in Filipino.
He added, “There are still four more machines at NPO, so we plan to use all their machines, as well as the two new ones brought by Miru Systems. Hopefully, we can make a way to double up our production output per day.”
The Comelec initially aimed to complete ballot printing by April 14. However, delays caused by the SC’s temporary restraining order (TRO) against the disqualification of several candidates resulted in the waste of six million ballots. These ballots, costing approximately ₱132 million, had already been printed before the TRO.
Garcia acknowledged the logistical and financial challenges of reprinting more than 70 million ballots for the May elections, noting that the reprinting costs were unanticipated.
“Printing ballots for the upcoming elections is not easy due to its complexities. While we didn’t foresee the additional costs, we may realign the budget from an existing line item,” he explained.
Despite the setbacks, Garcia urged the public not to blame the Supreme Court for the delays.
“I want to remind everyone not to blame the Supreme Court because this is part of a process. It’s really expected that these things will happen,” he said.
To ensure proper disposal, the Comelec began transporting the six million wasted ballots to a warehouse in Sta. Rosa, Laguna. The ballots will be processed using paper melting, as the National Archives of the Philippines prohibited the use of micro-shredding for recycling.
Although the Comelec has fallen behind its original timeline due to the two-week delay, Garcia assured the public that contingency measures are in place to meet the May election schedule.
“We’re no longer on track right now because of the two-week delay. We will slightly miss our timeline, but don’t worry as we can catch up on this,” he stated.
The poll body remains confident in its ability to fulfill its mandate despite the challenges, emphasizing its commitment to ensuring a smooth and transparent electoral process.
Carlo Juancho FuntanillaFrontend Developer, WordPress, Shopify
Contributing Editor
AMA ACLC San Pablo
- Carlo Juancho Funtanillahttps://tutubi.ph/author/carlojpf/
- Carlo Juancho Funtanillahttps://tutubi.ph/author/carlojpf/
- Carlo Juancho Funtanillahttps://tutubi.ph/author/carlojpf/
- Carlo Juancho Funtanillahttps://tutubi.ph/author/carlojpf/
