DESPITE the bicameral conference committee already approving the postponement of the December 2022 Barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan Elections (BSKE), the Commission on Elections (Comelec) yesterday still pushed through with the printing of the official ballots to be used on December 5.
In an interview, Elections spokesman John Rex Laudiangco said they started the ballot printing after the Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) with the National Printing Office (NPO) was signed yesterday.
“Printing of the test ballots is the first phase of and integral to the printing process. Therefore, the printing of the BSKE ballots officially commenced this noon,” said Laudiangco.
The poll official said the NPO is set to utilize three printers for the BSKE ballots, which totals to almost 92 million.
“The optimal capacity of each printer is 1 million ballots per day. And we intend to fully utilize the three printers of NPO,” said Laudiangco.
The Comelec and NPO shall be printing 67,061,585 ballots for barangay voters, and another 24,457,363 ballots for SK voters.
Asked what will happen if the law postponing the BSKE is signed by President Marcos while printing is ongoing, Laudiangco said it is already up to the Comelec en Banc.
“If the law comes in mid-printing, the Commission en Banc shall decide whether to halt the printing or complete such,” he said.
On Wednesday, the Senate and the House of Representatives separately ratified the consolidated version of the bill postponing the December 2022 BSKE to next year.
The final version of Senate Bill No. 1306 and House Bill No. 4673 moved the December 5, 2022 polls to the last Monday of October 2023.
The Comelec has repeatedly said that only a signed law postponing the BSKE to a later date can stop their preparations.
