Comelec Resumes Printing of 73 Million Ballots After 8-Day Pause

Only months left before the election, but how ready are we?The printing of 73 million ballots for the May legislative elections in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao as well as the national and municipal elections has resumed today, Wednesday, following an eight-day break.

Chairman George Erwin Garcia declared on Tuesday that the revised ballots that will be prepared will comply with the Supreme Court's directive to list the names of the nine candidates—one for a senate seat and eight for local ones—along with the number that corresponds to each name in alphabetical order.

Garcia hoped the most recent temporary restraining order (TRO) granted by the court on Monday in support of petitioner Jonas Cortes, a mayoral candidate in Mandaue City, Cebu, would be the final one and that the printing process would run smoothly till it was finished.

"We will proceed with the printing by Wednesday. If there will be new developments, we will see what we can do," Garcia stated.

However, on Tuesday, the Supreme Court granted two additional TROs.

For the first time in the Philippines' electoral history, the Comelec has ceased printing ballots in accordance with a court injunction. The Comelec was unable to revoke Noel Rosal's certificate of candidacy for the governorship of Albay and declare Francis Leo Antonio Marcos a nuisance candidate.

In order to achieve the deadline, the commission is employing its four printing machines and deputizing the National Printing Office (NPO). A new TRO and ongoing election cases against the Comelec may be discussed during the Supreme Court's en banc session on Wednesday. Two weeks prior to the elections, the commission is currently concentrating on distributing election-related materials and completing ballot printing on schedule. Last-minute testing and sealing will be conducted one week before the elections.