92% of ballots printed for midterm polls

About 92 percent of the official ballots for the upcoming midterm polls on 12 May had already been printed, according to the Commission on Elections (Comelec).

Comelec Chairperson George Garcia told reporters on Tuesday that the poll body has printed about 61 to 62 million ballots as of 11 March.

"Almost six million na balota na lamang po ang kailangang iimprenta (We will only just need to print six more million ballots)," he noted.

Meanwhile, around 36 to 37 million ballots have already been verified, according to Garcia.

"Pagkatapos ng printing ng balota, gagamitin namin ang mga tauhan namin sa pagve-verify naman ng balota (After printing of ballots, we will use our personnel to verify the printed ballots)," Garcia said, noting that they are still planning to add more personnel to speed up the verification process.

Garcia said the Comelec needs to verify 1.2 million ballots daily.

The Comelec tapped the National Printing Office to help South Korean election firm Miru Systems comply with the 14 April deadline for ballot printing.