BARMM poll ballots not printed yet — Comelec

The Commission on Elections (Comelec) on Wednesday said it will not yet proceed with the printing of the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) Parliamentary Election ballots.

This after President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. certified as urgent the bill seeking the postponement of the first-ever BARMM Parliamentary poll to October.

"Because of these recent developments, we did not yet proceed with the printing of the BARMM Parliamentary ballots. Only the national and local elections ballots," Comelec Chairperson George Garcia told reporters in a Viber message.

"The reason is because we may end up opening the filing of candidacy anew for the region in the event of redistricting as a result of reapportionment of the slots originally assigned to Sulu," Garcia explained.

The Bangsamoro election was initially proposed to be moved from 12 May to 11 August.

Calls to postpone the BARMM polls grew after the Supreme Court (SC) issued a decision to exclude Sulu Province from BARMM.

On Monday, 27 January, the Comelec resumed the printing of ballots for national and local elections after multiple delays due to SC's decisions regarding disqualification cases of some aspirants.