Comelec ‘back to zero’ after SC TRO; mock elections moved to 25 January

The Commission on Elections (Comelec) on Wednesday said it is now “back to zero” after it suspende the printing of 73 million ballots to be used for the national and local elections.

This after the Supreme Court (SC) issued pn Tuesday a temporary restraining order (TRO) on Comelec’s disqualification of some aspirants, including former lawmaker Edgar Erice.

In a radio interview, Comelec Chairperson George Garcia said they have no choice but to follow the High Court’s ruling.

“Kinakailangan pong ilagay yung pangalan ng mismong kandidatong yan dahil po sa TRO (We need to put the name of the said candidate on the ballots because of the TRO),” Garcia clarified.

He also said that the already printed six million ballots, which originally did not have the name of the aspirant, will now go to waste.

“Therefore back to zero po kami sa pag-iimprenta ng balota (Therefore we’re back to zero when it comes to printing ballots),” he continued.

“S'yempre mag-aadjust din po tayo ng mga numero ng mga kandidato, ipapasok po natin yung pangalan niyan (Of course, we will also adjust the candidates’ numbers because we will insert his name),” he added.

The poll body started printing the 73 million ballots to be used in the upcoming polls on 6 January.

Garcia said they still cannot say when to resume the printing.

He, however, assured that the “Comelec is in control of the situation,” and twin polls on 12 May will proceed as scheduled.

Meanwhile, the Comelec chief also announced that mock elections initially scheduled on Saturday, 18 January, will be rescheduled on 25 January.

“Hopefully, natapos na namin yung babaguhing database election management system (EMS) at pagse-serialize ng mga pangalan ng nga kandidato pati pagbabago pong mahigit 1,000 na ballot faces sa buong bansa (Hopefully by then, we have already finished modifying the database EMS and serialization of the names of the candidates, including the changes in over 1,000 ballot faces across the country),” Garcia added.

On Tuesday, the Comelec halted the printing of the ballots after an SC ruling stopping the poll body from disqualifying five aspirants from the upcoming polls.

Aside from the ballots and mock elections, the Comelec made adjustments on the candidates’ database, EMS, the automated counting machine, and the consolidation and canvassing system.