MANILA – The Commission on Elections (Comelec) is eyeing to resume by January 22 the printing of official ballots to be used in the May 12 midterm polls.
“Ballot printing is at the last part of this. There is a long process involved in ballot printing. Most probably, we can restart our production by (middle) of next week,” Comelec spokesperson John Rex Laudiangco said in an interview Friday.
Printing activities will still be at the National Printing Office in Quezon City.
Laudiangco said they need to apply the necessary changes in the election management system (EMS), automated counting machines, and consolidation and canvassing system before they can restart printing.
“There are extensive changes and amendments necessary to be done in the EMS,” Laudiangco said.
The Comelec will likewise conduct the new trusted build process with their international certification entity, Pro V&V, and generate the new ballot face templates and serialization.
“We have to complete all of these processes before we even reach ballot printing,” he added.
The Comelec on Tuesday suspended ballot printing, in connection with the five temporary restraining orders issued by the Supreme Court against the poll body and its decisions to declare as nuisance or disqualify political aspirants.
With this, the poll body has to destroy six million ballots that were earlier printed.
Als on Friday, the Comelec started the transfer of the ballots to its warehouse in Sta. Rosa City, Laguna for proper disposal. (PNA)