Comelec suspends printing of Eleksyon 2025 ballots

The Commission on Elections (Comelec) on Tuesday suspended the printing of the official ballots amid a Supreme Court (SC) ruling stopping the poll body from disqualifying ex-Caloocan City representative Edgar Erice and others from the 2025 national and local elections (NLE).

The development came after the Comelec conducted a meeting earlier to discuss measures on how to comply with the SC ruling.

According to the poll body, they immediately ordered the cessation of the printing of the ballots as part of its contingency measures pertaining to the decision of the High Court. They also amended their candidates’ database, election management system (EMS), as well as the automated counting machine (ACM) and the consolidation and canvassing system (CCS).

The Comelec likewise generated 1,667 ballot face templates reflecting the SC decision; created an inventory of all printed ballots; and conducted a study on whether the changes in the EMS warrant another trusted build.

Further, the poll body cancelled the live test for the trusted build of the onlne voting and counting system (OVCS) and the scheduled mock elections on January 18. The Comelec said it would also reprint all the affected ballots after changes in the EMS take effect.

“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 legal processes,” the Comelec said.

“We likewise inform the public that while delay is also a necessary consequence, please note that there is no cause for alarm, concern or panic, as the Comelec is fully in control of the situation and will effect the necessary contingency measures to mitigate such,” it added.

The SC had issued a temporary restraining order (TRO) prohibiting the Comelec from disqualifying Erice and two other aspirants previously declared as nuisance candidates. The poll body was instructed to comment on Erice’s petition within a non-extendible period of 10 days from receipt of notice.

“The TROs prohibit Comelec from disqualifying them. So this means their names have to be included in the ballot. So it’s up to Comelec how they would implement this. But they will just have to follow the order of the SC,”  SC spokesperson Atty. Camille Ting said.

Poll chairperson George Erwin Garcia earlier said that aspirants with cases declared as final and executory by the Comelec en banc were excluded from the official ballot. This included  Erice, whose disqualification was affirmed by the poll body earlier this month. Meanwhile, the names of aspirants with pending decisions will still be included in the ballots.

On January 3, Erice asked the SC to issue a TRO or a writ of preliminary injunction to enjoin the Comelec from implementing its resolution on his disqualification.

In November, Comelec disqualified Erice for violation of Section 261 of the Omnibus Election Code for supposedly spreading “false and alarming” information. This was affirmed by the poll body en banc in December.

The Comelec started printing the 73 million ballots to be used for the elections last January 6.—RF, GMA Integrated News