THE Commission on Elections (Comelec) yesterday failed to finalize the list of candidates for the synchronized May 2022 national and local elections, causing a domino effect on the timetable for the printing of ballots.
In a virtual press briefing, Comelec spokesman James Jimenez said they were not able to start ballot printing on Monday because the final ballot faces and list of candidates have yet to be released.
“After the ballot faces have been released, we will announce the schedule for ballot printing,” said Jimenez.
Jimenez said the Comelec was only able to release yesterday afternoon the ballot faces for overseas voting.
Jimenez said the name of former senator and presidential aspirant Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. will likely be included in the final list of candidates since the disqualification cases filed against him have yet to be resolved.
“The name (of a disqualified candidate sans finality) will still be on the ballot,” Jimenez said.
“Since his cases are still pending and the ballot faces are already ready, we are expecting to see his (Marcos) on the ballot,” added Comelec – Education and Information Department (EID) Director Elaiza David.
Marcos is still facing five petitions to have his certificate of candidacy cancelled and for disqualification pending with the Comelec.
Two other petitions against the former senator had already been dismissed by the Comelec Second Division.
In the event that Marcos is ultimately disqualified, Jimenez said his name will just remain in the ballot. “If the candidate is disqualified before the elections but after the ballots have been printed, obviously, the name will remain in the ballot,” he said.
In case a disqualified Marcos will have no substitute candidate from the Partido Federal ng Pilipinas (PFP), the poll official said votes for him will be considered as “stray”.
On the other hand, David said that in case a substitute bet is fielded, a vote for Marcos will count for his replacement.
“All votes for that particular candidate will go to the one who substituted him,” said David.
Jimenez said that despite the delay in the printing of ballots, “we are still within the allowances that were built into our schedule.”
OFFICIAL BALLOTS
David said there will be three sizes of the official ballots to be used in the May 2022 polls.
This will include the 30-inch ballot for the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM), 26-inch ballot for the rest of the country, and 25-inch ballot for overseas voting.
“The longest is the BARMM because their names are longer and they have more candidates,” said David.
As in past elections, she said the front face of the ballots will feature the individual candidates, while the back side will have the party-list groups.
The Comelec is set to hold today a virtual walk thru of the National Printing Office (NPO) ahead of the start of ballot printing.
“We will have another announcement regarding when will the printing start. But it is going to be after the walk thru,” said David.
