Ballot printing reset again, to Monday
(UPDATE) THE Commission on Elections (Comelec) has again postponed the printing of ballots for the May elections to Monday, following the withdrawal of senatorial candidate Francis Leo Marcos, whose plea for the inclusion of his name in the ballot has already been granted by the Supreme Court.Comelec Chairman George Erwin Garcia said on Friday that before Marcos filed his withdrawal Thursday, the Comelec was all set to print the ballots as early as 3 p.m. Friday.The printing was supposed to start today, Jan. 25, but the Comelec legal and information technology departments personnel worked overtime and were able to finish their jobs ahead of schedule.With the withdrawal of Marcos, "we need two to three days to change the database, serialization of ballots and generate 1,667 ballot faces. Because of that we will instead proceed with the printing of ballots on Monday," Garcia said.Ballot printing had been postponed twice because the Supreme Court had ordered the inclusion of candidates whose names had been removed from the ballot by the Comelec.Last Jan. 14, the Comelec had already printed 6 million ballots, but the high court issued temporary restraining orders (TROs) to insert the names of a national candidate and four local bets.Garcia said he will write a letter to Chief Justice Alexander Gesmundo to inform him that the printing of the ballots has once again been moved.Garcia appealed to other candidates who were also planning to withdraw to do so "possibly before noon Friday," so the Comelec could finally begin printing the ballots.He said that if withdrawals are made after the presses have started to roll, the Comelec will no longer stop the printing and leave the candidates' names on the ballot, but their votes would be declared as stray.Garcia said the same policy would apply to candidates who secured TROs, which the Supreme Court eventually withdrew after sustaining the decision of the Comelec.He said there are still 25 pending petitions before the Supreme Court from individual candidates and 22 from party-list groups.The issuance of TROs has delayed the printing of ballots by almost three weeks, Garcia said."At all costs, by Monday we will proceed with the printing of ballots," he said.The Comelec needs to print 73 million ballots. To make up for lost time, the National Printing Office (NPO) must print an average of 1.5 million ballots a day.Garcia said four printing presses of the NPO will be used, along with the two provided by Miru systems of South Korea.Despite the challenges, Garcia assured that the May 12 elections would be held as scheduled.He said an electoral process can only be rescheduled if there is a "declaration of postponement" of the election."Comelec will do everything; there's nothing to worry about. We are in control of the situation, including a contingency mechanism for any eventuality," Garcia said.
Tomas Kauer - Moderator 
(UPDATE) THE Commission on Elections (Comelec) has again postponed the printing of ballots for the May elections to Monday, following the withdrawal of senatorial candidate Francis Leo Marcos, whose plea for the inclusion of his name in the ballot has already been granted by the Supreme Court.Comelec Chairman George Erwin Garcia said on Friday that before Marcos filed his withdrawal Thursday, the Comelec was all set to print the ballots as early as 3 p.m. Friday.The printing was supposed to start today, Jan. 25, but the Comelec legal and information technology departments personnel worked overtime and were able to finish their jobs ahead of schedule.With the withdrawal of Marcos, "we need two to three days to change the database, serialization of ballots and generate 1,667 ballot faces. Because of that we will instead proceed with the printing of ballots on Monday," Garcia said.Ballot printing had been postponed twice because the Supreme Court had ordered the inclusion of candidates whose names had been removed from the ballot by the Comelec.Last Jan. 14, the Comelec had already printed 6 million ballots, but the high court issued temporary restraining orders (TROs) to insert the names of a national candidate and four local bets.Garcia said he will write a letter to Chief Justice Alexander Gesmundo to inform him that the printing of the ballots has once again been moved.Garcia appealed to other candidates who were also planning to withdraw to do so "possibly before noon Friday," so the Comelec could finally begin printing the ballots.He said that if withdrawals are made after the presses have started to roll, the Comelec will no longer stop the printing and leave the candidates' names on the ballot, but their votes would be declared as stray.Garcia said the same policy would apply to candidates who secured TROs, which the Supreme Court eventually withdrew after sustaining the decision of the Comelec.He said there are still 25 pending petitions before the Supreme Court from individual candidates and 22 from party-list groups.The issuance of TROs has delayed the printing of ballots by almost three weeks, Garcia said."At all costs, by Monday we will proceed with the printing of ballots," he said.The Comelec needs to print 73 million ballots. To make up for lost time, the National Printing Office (NPO) must print an average of 1.5 million ballots a day.Garcia said four printing presses of the NPO will be used, along with the two provided by Miru systems of South Korea.Despite the challenges, Garcia assured that the May 12 elections would be held as scheduled.He said an electoral process can only be rescheduled if there is a "declaration of postponement" of the election."Comelec will do everything; there's nothing to worry about. We are in control of the situation, including a contingency mechanism for any eventuality," Garcia said.
