MANILA, Philippines?Another hiccup has delayed for yet another week the printing of 50 million ballots to be used in the May elections.

Elections Chair Jose Melo Monday said the names of some local and party-list candidates had been left out when poll officials checked the copies to be printed in the National Printing Office.

The Commission on Elections (Comelec) earlier scheduled the printing of the ballots on Jan. 25 but reset it for Jan. 30 to await resolution of disqualification cases. Now, it will begin Feb. 7.

Comelec spokesperson James Jimenez said there were 1,631 ?unique ballots? throughout the country.

Each district carries a different set of names of local candidates at the back of the ballot while the names of national candidates for president, vice president and senator appear in front.

Jimenez said there was a big possibility that the Comelec would be saddled with security concerns arising from an early shipment of the two-foot-long ballots in their respective districts.

?Our target shipment date to municipalities is April 25. If we began last Jan. 31, that would mean we would be finished with the printing by April 19,? Jimenez said.

While this is not exactly a bad thing, Jimenez explained that an early shipment would mean the ballots would be ?sitting too long? in storage.

?It would be uncomfortable from the point of view of security,? he said.

Jimenez said it would also be an ?added bonus? for Comelec officials to start later instead of earlier ?because it gives us the opportunity to go through the list of candidates to be included in the ballots.?

Ballot boxes

?There were many names left out so this gives us time to make sure that they are included. So everyone whose names should be on the ballot will be in the ballot,? he added.

Also Monday, a separate contract was signed between the Comelec and Smartmatic Asia for the procurement of 77,000 ballot boxes for use in the elections.

Smartmatic Asia president Cesar Flores said that the boxes would be made of polypropylene, a durable and opaque plastic so the ballots inside can be seen.

The contract costs P243,367,740, Flores said.

Although no bidding was conducted, the contract was authorized by the Philippine Procurement Board, Melo said.

He explained it would be more convenient for the Comelec to order the boxes from Smartmatic since the company was already familiar with the dimensions of the ballots to be used.