Chavit officially withdraws Senate bid; name to be deleted in official ballots

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DAYS after his public announcement, former Ilocos Sur governor Luis “Chavit” Singson yesterday formally withdrew his senatorial bid in the May 2025 national and local polls.

Wearing a face mask, Singson personally filed his Statement of Withdrawal at the main office of the Commission on Elections (Comelec) in Intramuros, Manila.

The withdrawal comes days after Singson announced he is backing out from the Senate race due to health reasons.

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“I’ve been hit with pneumonia twice. I don’t want to wait for a third. Life is far more important than anything,” Singson said in an interview with reporters after he filed his Statement of Withdrawal.

In a separate interview, Comelec chairman George Garcia said the official withdrawal of Singson comes at a good time as they are about to restart the printing of official ballots.

This after the Supreme Court ordered the poll body to include the name of Subair Guinthum Mustapha of the Workers’ and Peasants’ Party (WPP) in the list of official senatorial candidates.

“Now that we are back to zero with ballot printing, we can now remove his (Singson) name and include the name (of Mustapha) ordered by the Supreme Court (SC) to be included,” said Garcia.

Previously, the Comelec said it would just retain the name of Singson despite his withdrawal since the poll body had started printing the official ballots last January 6.

The Comelec had stopped printing the official ballots to be used in the May polls after the SC issued temporary restraining orders on its decision to disqualify two candidates, declare two others as nuisance candidates and refuse to accept the COC of another.

On Wednesday, it said that the six million ballots so far printed by the National Printing Office will be destroyed so it cannot be used for unauthorized purposes.

Despite quitting the Senate race, Singson said he will continue to push for the campaign platforms that he declared last October after he filed his certificate of candidacy (COC).

This, he said, includes his plans to modernize the country’s transport industry by manufacturing thousands of electric jeepneys, as well as the distribution of bank accounts and debit cards to Filipinos.

“I’ll continue my projects as I’ve given my word on it. I can do them even if I’m not a senator,” said Singson.

BARMM BALLOTS

Amid the impending destruction of the printed official ballots, Garcia said the Comelec is looking at ways to salvage those for the Bangsamoro Parliamentary Elections (BPE).

Garcia said they are not ruling out the possibility of salvaging the 2,378,992 ballots to be used for the first-ever BPE in the country.

“The 2.3 million ballots (for the BPE), we may be able to save them and not be included among those to be destroyed,” he said.

“It is possible that our technical people may recommend not to destroy the Bangsamoro Parliamentary ballots. And that will be good news to us,” he added.

For the moment, the poll chief said they are letting their technical personnel assess the plans for reprinting the ballots.

As for the other official ballots subject to disposal, Garcia said they have started the disposal process as provided by their guidelines.

This, he said, includes conducting an inventory of all printed official ballots, followed by their packing and transport to the Comelec warehouse in Sta Rosa, Laguna.

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“(We will) dispose of the printed ballots in accordance with the guidelines to be set by the Commission,” said the Comelec in a public notice.

BSKE PREPARATIONS

Garcia said the Comelec will push through with its preparations for the December 2025 Barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan Elections (BSKE) amid moves in Congress to postpone it.

“We must not forget that there is a BSKE in December. So, we are already starting our preparations for it,” he said, adding that Commissioner Rey Bulay has been designated as the head of the December 2025 BSKE Project Management Office.

“He will be the commissioner in charge of preparing for the BSKE,” said Garcia.

The poll chief said their preparations will have to push through as Congress has yet to pass a law postponing the BSKE set later this year.

Last Tuesday, the Senate unanimously approved on third and final reading a proposed measure, wherein the next BSKE will be held on the first Monday of October 2027.

On the other hand, the counterpart measure in the House of Representatives was approved by the House Committee on Local Government last December.

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