THE Commission on Elections (Comelec) ruled out the possibility it will reprint any of the over-67 million ballots to be used for the 2022 polls despite the pending appeal of some party-list groups before the Supreme Court (SC) to be still included in the said election paraphernalia.
Comelec Commissioner George M. Garcia said they could no longer accommodate the said party-lists groups after the National Printing Office (NPO) already completed last Saturday the printing of all the ballots for the 2022 National and Local Election (NLE).
He noted attempts to reprint the ballots to include the said party-list groups will cost the Comelec billions of pesos since it will require them to change their ballot template.
“Unfortunately, the Comelec did not order a reprint of the ballots,” Garcia said in a virtual forum last Sunday. “Nothing can stop the distribution of the ballots.”
Needed explanation
However, Garcia noted that the Comelec en banc will still come out with an explanation on why it failed to comply with the Temporary Restraining Order (TRO) issued by the SC regarding the appeal of party-list groups.
“What will be the liability [of the] Comelec in such an instance? The Comelec must be able to explain why it did not comply with the Supreme Court despite the presence of the TRO,” he added.
Garcia, a prominent election lawyer prior to his appointment to the Comelec, disclosed he was the legal counsel of one of the party-lists, which was able to secure a TRO from the SC in its bid to be included in the ballots.
A total of 12 party-list groups were able to secure a TRO from the High Court last January 6 after questioning the Comelec’s decision to remove them from the 2022 ballots.
Of the pending cases, 80 percent were already dismissed by the SC, Garcia said.
Ballot deployment
ON January 23, 2022, the NPO started printing the ballots to be used by local and overseas voters for the 2022 elections. It was able to complete the process last April 2.
Garcia said they are targeting to finish the deployment of the ballots for the local automated elections this month.
The poll official noted that the deployment of the ballots for the around 1.7 million overseas voters is already 80 percent complete.