THE Commission on Elections (Comelec) yesterday again deferred the scheduled restart today of the printing of official ballots for the May 2025 polls.
Elections chairman George Garcia said ballot printing will resume on Monday.
Garcia said the printing of the ballots had to be reset anew after Francis Leo Marcos withdrew his senatorial bid yesterday.
“Because of his (Marcos) withdrawal, we will need another two to three days to update our database, redo the serialization, and change the ballot faces once again,” he said.
“We won’t be pushing through with our restart (Friday)… Most probably, we will restart the ballot printing on Monday morning,” he added.
The Comelec has stopped the printing of the 73 million official ballots to be used in the May national, local and Bangsamoro parliamentary polls
due to several temporary restraining orders (TROs) issued by the Supreme Court (SC) against its decisions to disqualify or declare as nuisance candidates several aspirants.
The SC has also ordered the poll body to include the names of 11 national and local candidates, including Marcos, in the official ballots to be printed.
The National Printing Office (NPO) started printing the ballots on January 6.
The Comelec first ordered the suspension of the ballot printing on January 14 and reset it to January 20 (Monday), then moved it to January 22 (Wednesday), and again to either January 24 (Friday) or 25 (Saturday) due to the TROs issued by the High Court.
Now, the Comelec is again forced to delay the ballot printing with Marcos filing his Statement of Withdrawal of certificate of candidacy (COC).
“For every withdrawal of COCs while we aren’t printing yet, we will need two to three days to effect changes,” Garcia said.
The Comelec adjustments include amending the candidates database, generation of new ballot face templates, and serialization of the new ballots.
Garcia appealed to aspirants considering to backout from the elections to decide until noon today.
“To those who want to withdraw their COCs, do it while there is still time and we have yet to restart with the ballot printing,” he said.
MARCOS BACKS OUT
On Thursday afternoon, Marcos showed up at the Comelec main office in Intramuros, Manila to file his Statement of Withdrawal as a senatorial aspirant.
In an interview with reporters, he said he decided to withdraw his senatorial bid to help prevent more financial losses to the Comelec in having to dispose and reprint official ballots.
“The money of the people will be spent for nothing. So, kung ako lang magiging dahilan para gumastos na naman ang gobyerno, mas mamatamisin ko na lang, marami pa naman eleksyon e, formal kong binibigay ang withdrawal of candidacy ko (If the government will spend money because of me, I would rather formally withdraw my candidacy. There are still future elections [when I can run]),” he said.
He also said he decided to pull-out from the May 2025 race to prevent affecting the senatorial bid of Sen. Imee Marcos.
Marcos said he didn’t talk to anybody prior to deciding to withdraw his COC.
Comelec Commissioner Ernesto Maceda said that aside from the Assistance to Individuals in Crisis Situation (AICS), other social services programs of the government may be suspended 10 days prior to the May 2025 polls, or from May 2 to 12.
“Definitely, there will be prohibition just like with AICS for a certain amount of time prior to elections. There will definitely be a limitation… 10 days prior to Election Day,” Maceda said in an interview.
Maceda said one possible program that might be covered by the ban is the Ayuda sa Kapos ang Kita Program (AKAP).
To note, the Comelec earlier authorized the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) to proceed with the implementation of its 28 cash assistance programs, including AICS and AKAP, even during the ban on the release of public funds from March 28 to May 11, 2025.
However, the poll body said there must not be any distribution of the AICS from May 2 to 12.
Maceda said they are considering the policy due to public concerns on such programs being used by some candidates to advance their chances on Election Day.
“There has been an outcry that the ones giving these kinds of assistance may also be using it for campaign purposes. Whether it’s the intention or not, you want to avoid those kinds of perspective from the public,” he said.
He said the mulled expansion of coverage is part of the poll body’s efforts to prevent incidents of abuse of state resources (ASR).
“We are trying to equalize the playing field. We want to make sure that as we approach Election Day, those giving ayuda won’t have undue advantage,” he said.
BARMM POLLS
Meanwhile, Garcia yesterday said the Comelec will need at least P2.5 billion if it will separately hold the Bangsamoro Parliamentary Elections (BPE) on August 2025.
“Currently, the BPE is to be held with the national and local polls. It helped us save money since we will be using the same voting machines, teachers, ballot boxes. Basically, everything is the same except the ballots,” he said.
“If we reset it, it will entail additional costs. It will be as if there is a different election. Therefore, the Comelec will be needing at least P2.5 billion,” he added.
The Senate Committee on Local Government has endorsed for plenary approval the proposal to reset the BPE to August 2025.
Last December 2024, the House of Representatives approved a bill rescheduling the BARMM polls from May 2025 to May 2026.
With the resetting of the BPE becoming more likely, Garcia said they are considering delaying the reprinting of the ballots for the parliamentary elections.
“We will print first the ballots for Bangsamoro for the national and local elections, but not yet those for the parliamentary elections,” he said.
Bangsamoro voters are set to use two ballots – one for the national and local polls, and another for the parliamentary elections.
A total of 2,378,992 ballots will be printed by the Comelec for the national and local polls and the same number for the parliamentary polls.
