Comelec running out of time – Garcia
The Commission on Elections (Comelec) will restart “at all costs” the printing of official ballots for the May 2025 national, local, and Bangsamoro parliamentary polls on Saturday.
“We are running out of time. Therefore, we will proceed at all costs by Saturday regardless of any developments,” Elections chairman George Garcia said in an interview.
The printing of the 73 million ballots to be used in this year’s elections was slated to resume yesterday, but this was suspended after the Supreme Court (SC) issued two new temporary restraining orders (TROs) against the disqualification of a gubernatorial aspirant and the declaration of a senatorial contender as a nuisance candidate.
“We will also inform the Supreme Court that we will restart the printing of ballots by Saturday,” Garcia said.
The poll chief said the Comelec is already pressed for time with the May 2025 polls just over 100 days away.
“Our timeline is getting thinner by the day. We are already three weeks delayed (in ballot printing),” he said.
The Comelec has repeatedly pushed back the start of ballot printing, from late December 2024 to early January 2025.
“In case we have completed the changes we needed to do by tomorrow (Thursday), including the ballot faces, maybe we can even begin printing by Friday afternoon,” Garcia added.
WORST CASE SCENARIO
Garcia said that while they fully intend to comply with all decisions of the High Court, there is a possibility that the poll body would be forced to defy its rulings when faced with the “worst case scenario.”
“Under the present Comelec, we don’t want to defy the Supreme Court. Until today, we are going to abide by the order of the SC. That (defying the SC) shouldn’t be the case. It will probably happen only if we are faced with the worst case scenario,” he said when asked what the poll body would do if more TROs are issued by the SC.
He said such scenarios had happened in the past involving the Comelec and the SC.
“In the past, the Comelec already defied the order of the Supreme Court… All commissioners were cited in contempt by the High Court back then,” he said without mentioning the specific case.
The poll chief issued the statement on the heels of the SC issuance of multiple TROs against the Comelec and its decisions to either disqualify or declare some aspirants as nuisance candidates.
The issuances of TROs have since forced the Comelec to suspend the ballot printing, make changes in the automated election system, amend the ballot face templates, update the candidates database, and restart the printing process.
To hasten the ballot printing and meet its self-imposed April 14 deadline, the Comelec has decided to tap the four printers of the National Printing Office (NPO) to complement the two HP PageWide Advantage 2200 machines provided by Miru Systems.
Once it starts printing, the Comelec said it is looking to have 1.5 million official ballots printed per day.
MARCOS BETS
Garcia said the inclusion of the name of Francis Leo Antonio Marcos in the list of senatorial candidates will displace presidential sister Sen. Imee Marcos in the ballot numbering.
Garcia said the name of “Marcos, Francis Leo” will be listed ahead of “Marcos, Imee,” who was occupying number 39 in the original ballot face template.
“F comes first ahead of I. In such a case, Mr Marcos will be listed ahead of Sen. Imee,” he said.
The names of all candidates, both national and local, except the party-list organizations, are listed alphabetically in the official ballots.
On Tuesday, the SC issued a TRO against the Comelec and its decision to declare Francis Marcos as a nuisance senatorial candidate.
Garcia said the TRO left them with no other recourse but to order the renumbering of the list of candidates.
The Commission is looking to restart the printing of official ballots on Saturday, January 25.
TEXT BLAST MACHINE
Information and communications technology Secretary Ivan John Uy yesterday warned candidates in the upcoming polls against using text blast machines, which he said are considered illegal in the country.
“I need to warn our candidates because we will be monitoring,” Uy told a press briefing at Camp Crame.
“We would like to remind the candidates that that these equipment are illegal, they are not licensed, they are subject to confiscation and criminal prosecution if you possess these devices,” he said.
He warned that the candidacy of candidates who will be caught using such machines will be compromised.
“We will definitely confiscate that, file appropriate chares and perhaps file whatever charges even in Comelec. So, it’s a warning to all candidates,” he said.
Uy made the remarks after government agencies, including the PNP Anti-Cybercrime Group (ACG), arrested a Malaysian national in Parañaque City last Tuesday for possession of a text blast machine, which the ACG said is “capable of mass SMS broadcasting without need for a database, SIM card or WiFi.”
The ACG said the machine had a built-in International Mobile Subscriber Identity Capture.
“There are rules that the Comelec has issued in order to do campaigning. Follow those rules. Do it legally. If you resort to illegal means of doing your campaign, then that also shows the lack of virtue on the part of the candidates,” Uy said, as he urged voters not to vote for candidates who will resort to illegal acts to advance their candidacies.
Uy urged anyone who may have bought text blast machines from the arrested Malaysian to surrender these equipment.
“The best advice we can make is surrender them. Voluntarily surrender these devices because we already arrested their supplier. It’s just a matter of time when we’re going to identify the people he sold these,” he said.
Uy said people who will surrender such devices will be spared from any charges, but warned those who will not voluntarily do so that “the moment we catch you, you will end up in jail.”
The DICT chief stressed that the device is “harmful to the best interest of society and community” as he noted that this is also used by guerrilla operations of Philippine Offshore Gaming Operators (POGOs).
“Before, these scammers used POGO facilities. They occupied huge buildings with a lot of people and then they operate from there,” Uy said.
“Since POGOs are already banned and their network had been disassembled, they have gone into what we call guerrilla operations. They split into smaller teams and are now scattered,” he said.
Uy said authorities also have to change tactics to catch the scammers.
“We have to deploy more people, more personnel because we now have more targets. Before we have fewer targets because they operate in large groups. Now, there are many small targets so we have to deploy more people and more equipment,” he added. – With Victor Reyes
