THIRTY-FIVE days before the October 13 Bangsamoro Parliamentary Elections (BPE), the Commission on Elections (Comelec) has completed the printing and verification of the official ballots.
Based on the data released by Comelec, the printing and verification of 2,250,935 official BPE ballots were completed on Sunday night at the National Printing Office (NPO).
These include 228,179 for Basilan; 695,669 for Lanao del Sur; 520,285 for Maguindanao del Norte; 439,311 for Maguindanao del Sur; 251,958 for Tawi-Tawi; and 115,533 for the Special Geographic Area.
The Comelec added that there were also 24,996 “bad ballots” or a defective printing rate of 1.11 percent.
The ballot printing, which began last August 28, was originally expected to be completed by September 15.
However, the Commission said the deployment of official ballots along with the other election paraphernalia and supplies will still start on September 16.
In a phone interview, Comelec Chairman George Garcia said the timely completion of the ballot printing and verification vindicates their decision to push forward with their preparations amid the potential complications due to the newly passed redistricting law in the Bangsamoro.
“(It’s good) we decided to proceed with the preparations despite the late passage of the reapportionment law,” he said.
“(Had we waited,) the printing would not have started yet,” added Garcia.
The Comelec initially decided to withhold its preparations and wait for the Bangsamoro Parliamentary Redistricting Act of 2025 or Bangsamoro Autonomy Act (BAA) No. 77.
However, the proximity of the BPE subsequently forced the Comelec to resume its preparations for the parliamentary polls.
