MANILA, Philippines — The ballots for the May 2022 elections did not include two aspirants for national positions who have secured temporary restraining order (TRO) from the Supreme Court (SC) because the ballots were already ready for printing before the TROs were issued, the Commission on Elections (Comelec) said Tuesday.
“By the time the TROs came out, the serializations of the ballots had already been completed, so the ballots were ready to go, so we went [ahead],” Comelec spokesperson James Jimenez said in an online media briefing.
“We started printing, again because by the time the TROs came out, tapos na, prepared na ‘yung ballot (the ballot was ready), so there is nothing to do but to just go ahead and print the ballots,” he added.
The National Printing Office started printing the automated election ballots that will be used for the May 2022 national and local elections on Sunday, January 23.
READ: Comelec starts printing automated ballots for May 9 polls
The ballot face released by the Comelec on Tuesday did not include the names of vice-presidential aspirant Wilson Amad and senatorial aspirant, Normal Marquez.
Marquez, who was earlier declared a nuisance candidate by the Comelec, secured a restraining order from the SC against the Comelec decision on January 19. Amad, who had also been declared a nuisance candidate, also secured a restraining order from the High Court on January 20.
READ: SC order delays ballot printing