THE Commission on Elections (Comelec) on Tuesday said it would stop printing ballots after the Supreme Court issued temporary restraining orders to stop the disqualification of five candidates in the May 12 midterm elections.
Aside from stopping the printing of official ballots at the National Printing Office (NPO), the Commission en banc also agreed to effect changes to the candidates’ database, the election management system (EMS), the automated counting machines (ACM), and the consolidation and canvassing system (CCS), all of which have already been the subject of a trusted build that ensures the integrity, security and accuracy of the automated election system.
Members of the Quezon City Department of Public Order and Safety (DPOS) dismantle campaign posters hanging at the Flora Ylagan High School in Quezon City as part of the local government’s Oplan Baklas on Jan. 14, 2025. PHOTO BY ISMAEL DE JUAN
Members of the Quezon City Department of Public Order and Safety (DPOS) dismantle campaign posters hanging at the Flora Ylagan High School in Quezon City as part of the local government’s Oplan Baklas on Jan. 14, 2025. PHOTO BY ISMAEL DE JUAN
Members of the Quezon City Department of Public Order and Safety (DPOS) dismantle campaign posters hanging at the Flora Ylagan High School in Quezon City as part of the local government’s Oplan Baklas on Jan. 14, 2025. PHOTO BY ISMAEL DE JUAN
Members of the Quezon City Department of Public Order and Safety (DPOS) dismantle campaign posters hanging at the Flora Ylagan High School in Quezon City as part of the local government’s Oplan Baklas on Jan. 14, 2025. PHOTO BY ISMAEL DE JUAN
This process involves compiling the final, verified and approved source code into “executable machine-readable code” that will be deployed in the election systems.
The other contingency measures are the generation of 1,667 ballot face templates and their serialization, as well as changes to the numbering of candidates; inventory of all printed ballots, including final testing and sealing ballots, local absentee voting ballots, overseas voting ballots, official ballots for the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) and Caraga, BARMM parliamentary election ballots, and mock election ballots, totaling to about 6 million pieces of ballots.
The Comelec will also study whether or not the change in the EMS and candidate’s database would necessitate another trusted build. It would also have to reprint all the affected ballots when all the necessary changes in the candidates database and EMS have already been effected.
Campaign posters and tarpaulins are dumped at an empty lot in Quezon City for disposal following the local government’s Oplan Baklas campaign on Sunday January 12, 2025. PHOTOS BY ISMAEL DE JUAN
Campaign posters and tarpaulins are dumped at an empty lot in Quezon City for disposal following the local government’s Oplan Baklas campaign on Sunday January 12, 2025. PHOTOS BY ISMAEL DE JUAN
Campaign posters and tarpaulins are dumped at an empty lot in Quezon City for disposal following the local government’s Oplan Baklas campaign on Sunday January 12, 2025. PHOTOS BY ISMAEL DE JUAN
Campaign posters and tarpaulins are dumped at an empty lot in Quezon City for disposal following the local government’s Oplan Baklas campaign on Sunday January 12, 2025. PHOTOS BY ISMAEL DE JUAN
Campaign posters and tarpaulins are dumped at an empty lot in Quezon City for disposal following the local government’s Oplan Baklas campaign on Sunday January 12, 2025. PHOTOS BY ISMAEL DE JUAN
Campaign posters and tarpaulins are dumped at an empty lot in Quezon City for disposal following the local government’s Oplan Baklas campaign on Sunday January 12, 2025. PHOTOS BY ISMAEL DE JUAN
Campaign posters and tarpaulins are dumped at an empty lot in Quezon City for disposal following the local government’s Oplan Baklas campaign on Sunday January 12, 2025. PHOTOS BY ISMAEL DE JUAN
The poll body said it would need to reschedule the trusted build of the online voting and counting system, originally scheduled for Jan. 15, and the mock elections set for Jan. 18.
“While these actions are indeed time-consuming and very costly, Comelec fully respects the decision of the Supreme Court, and we recognize these orders as part of the Comelec legal processes,” the commission said.
Despite the delays in the preparations because of the Court’s order, the Comelec assured the public that “there is no cause for alarm, concern, or panic,” saying that it is fully in control of the situation and will effect the necessary contingency measures.
The poll body said it would inform the two chambers of Congress about the measures it would take.
It would also transport all the ballots already printed to its Sta. Rosa warehouse and destroy them to prevent any unauthorized use.
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