MANILA, Philippines — The Commission on Elections (Comelec) targets to start the printing of ballots for the May 2019 elections on February 2, its spokesperson said Wednesday.
Comelec spokesman James Jimenez said the names of the candidates for the polls have been forwarded to the Information Technology Department (ITD) of the commission.
“We’re expecting to start that next week. We already gave the list to the ITD for loading and they said that they probably need a week to do that,” JImenez said in a press briefing.
“So probably, (the) earliest start is February 2, and then we’re going to start printing on a 24-hour basis. We’ll also be increasing personnel at the ITD,” he added.
Jimenez disclosed that because the disqualification cases of Senator Koko Pimentel and former Senator Sergio Osmeña III have not been resolved, their names are still included in the list submitted to the ITD.
“If anything happens between now and the start of the printing run, ma-cocorrect iyan kasi pinapasok lang naman sila ngayon, eh so pwedeng madelete (we can still correct that, the names can be still be deleted),” he said.
“Ngayon kung magstart na iyong printing, kapag nag-commit na tayo doon sa ballot face that we have prepared, then that’s it (If the printing starts, that’s it),” Jimenez added.
The list submitted to the ITD also includes the names of the 13 senatorial candidates who may be tagged as nuisance candidates by the Comelec.
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The campaign period for senatorial candidates will start on February 12. The midterm elections, meanwhile, will commence on May 13. /ee