Comelec targets to start printing ballots by December

Commission on Elections. INQUIRER FILES

MANILA, Philippines — The Commission on Elections (Comelec) is eyeing to start printing ballots for the 2025 elections by the second week of December, Comelec Chairman George Garcia said on Thursday.

According to Garcia, it is due to the timeline of the filing of certificates of candidacy.

“Ang printing natin hopefully, makapagstart na tayo second week of December sapagkat wala namang substitution of candidates na. Kapag nag-file ng kandidatura on October 1-8, at magkakaroon ng palitan kung namatay o na-disqualify yung mismong kandidato,” Garcia said in an ambush interview.

(Hopefully, we can start printing by the second week of December because substitution of candidates is prohibited. If they file their candidacy on October 1-8, replacement is allowed if the reason is death or disqualification.)

“And at the same time, ang commitment ng Comelec, bago matapos ang Nobyembre hanggang Nobyembre 30, ire-resolve namin lahat ng nuisance cases upang hindi makatakbo yung mga panggulo,” he added.

(And at the same time, the commitment of Comelec is that before November ends, until November 30, we will resolve all the nuisance cases so the nuisance candidates will not run in the elections.)

READ: Comelec tightens candidate rules for 2025 elections with new guidelines

When asked about the problems that the poll body might encounter in printing the ballots, Garcia said an issue may arise if a declared nuisance candidate or a party-list denied accreditation takes their case to the court.

“Katulad ng dati, may mga ganung klaseng pagkakataon at nag-iissue ang Korte Suprema ng temporary restraining order (TRO) o pinapahinto ang Comelec na dapat isali ang pangalan…Hopefully, sana mapigilan ‘yong mga bagay na ‘yan kasi ang nangyayari dati, lumalabas yung TRO habang nag-iimprenta ng balota,” he said.

(Just like before, there were instances when the Supreme Court issued a temporary restraining order asking Comelec to stop and include the names…Hopefully, it does not happen again because what happened before was that the TRO was issued while we were printing ballots.)

“Kaya po mas maaga ang filing ng candidacy, mas maaga ang pag-iimprenta ng balota dahil ang mga pangalan ng mga kandidato ay nakaimprenta rin sa automated elections, hindi po katulad sa isang manual na halalan na ang mga pangalan ng mga kandidato ay sinusulat,” he added.

(That’s why the filing of candidacy is early, as well as the printing of ballots because the names of the candidates are printed on the ballots for automated elections, unlike in manual elections where the names of the candidates have to be handwritten.)

Garcia also shared some “unique” features of the ballots that the Comelec will be printing, including the “secret markings” they included in the ballots.

He said the ballots are “precinct specific,” which means that they can’t be used by other precincts and other vote-counting machines.

Comelec signed a memorandum of agreement with automated election system provider Miru Systems and the National Printing Office for printing the ballots for the 2025 polls.

Last August 31, the Comelec said 24,000 vote-counting machines arrived in the country.

READ: Over 24,000 vote counting machines for 2025 polls now in PH