Comelec targets January 17 start of printing ballots

MANILA, Philippines —The Commission on Elections (Comelec) is targeting to start the printing of ballots for the May 9 national and local elections on Monday.

Today, the poll body intends to complete the final ballot faces for printing, which bear the final list of candidates for national positions.

“Our estimate is that our final ballot faces will be completed by Jan. 15. The final ballot face means that is the final list of candidates,” Comelec spokesman James Jimenez said. “We hope to be able to start printing by Jan. 17.”

Jimenez said the Comelec will upload the final ballot faces on its official website in “a rolling process since those are hundreds of names.”

From the 97 individuals who filed their certificates of candidacy (COCs) for president last October, the Comelec published the tentative list of aspiring candidates bearing the names of 10 aspirants. Alphabetically, they are former Malacañang spokesman Ernesto Abella, labor leader Leody de Guzman, Manila Mayor Isko Moreno, Norberto Gonzales, Sen. Panfilo Lacson, Faisal Mangondato, former senator Ferdinand Marcos Jr., Jose Montemayor, Sen. Manny Pacquiao and Vice President Leni Robredo.

Also on the tentative list are vice presidential aspirants Rep. Lito Atienza, Walden Bello, Rizalito David, Davao Mayor Sara Duterte, Emmanuel Sto. Domingo Lopes, Dr. Willie Ong, Sen. Francis Pangilinan, Carlos Serapio and Sen. Vicente Sotto III. At least 29 individuals filed their COCs for vice president.

The Comelec’s tentative list has 64 senatorial aspirants and 178 party-list groups. Online campaign platform In another development, the Comelec launched a platform that will provide free live-streaming platform for online rallies of the national candidates in this year’s elections.

In a statement, the Comelec said that national candidates can use the Campaign SAFE.COMELEC e-Rally Channel on Facebook.

“[It] will provide e-rally airtime to all bona fide candidates for the positions of president, vice-president and senator, as well as to each participating party-list organization,” it said.

The schedule of the e-rally time slots for each candidate, which will be allocated with the corresponding time, will be released soon, it added.

Under the schedule, presidential and vice-presidential candidates will each be given a 10-minute time and three slots per night while senatorial and party-list groups will each be given a three-minute time and five slots per night. Political parties will be given a 10-minute time and three slots per night.

The Comelec said the live-streaming channel can be used every night through the official social media channels of the Comelec starting Feb. 8.

“The Commission will issue the pertinent guidelines on how the candidates and party-list organizations can participate in the e-Rally channel,” Jimenez said.

“This platform can help ensure that even those candidates who have less in followers can still have more in views and exposure, so to speak.”

In another development, the Comelec said that registration of website or social media accounts of candidates will be done on or before Jan. 31 through https://bit.ly/2022NLESocMed.

The Comelec said that the registration of website and social media pages is pursuant to its Resolution No. 10730, requiring “registered political party/coalitions and bona fide candidate to register with the Education and Information Department (EID) of the COMELEC, the official accounts, websites, blogs and/or other social media pages of political party/coalitions and candidates which are already verified upon registration, and also those that will be verified subsequent to registration, provided that the same are being or will be used for the endorsement of his/her candidacy or candidacies of its members.”

Call to probe  Comelec ‘hacking’

Meanwhile, another senior member of the House of Representatives sought a legislative investigation on the reported hacking of Comelec servers ahead of the elections.

In filing House Resolution No. 2436, Cavite Rep. Elpidio Barzaga Jr. cited the need for Congress to look into the information that a group of hackers was allegedly able to breach Comelec servers and downloaded more than 60 gigabytes of data including, among others, usernames and PINS of vote-counting machines.

In seeking the congressional probe, Barzaga said that if the data hacking incidents are true, the public has to know “its effects on the integrity of our electoral process.”

He said the investigation should look into the existing automated electoral process as a whole, “evaluating its strengths, vulnerabilities and accuracy to ensure integrity of the electoral process.”

“Despite concerns and challenges in the move toward automation, public confidence has increased in the automated electoral system,” said Barzaga, president of the National Unity Party.

Earlier, several congressmen, including House transportation committee chair and Samar Rep. Edgar Mary Sarmiento, made similar calls for a congressional investigation on the matter. – Edu Punay