MANILA, Philippines — The Commission on Elections (Comelec) said there are already 6 million ballots that were printed for the 2025 national and local elections before the Supreme Court issued a restraining order for the disqualification of five candidates.
In a press conference on Wednesday, January 15, Comelec Chairman George Garcia announced the ballots would be shredded to ensure they cannot be used in the upcoming polls.
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“Tatandaan po natin ang mga balotang ‘yan ay original na balota. Therefore, 'pag pinasok sa mga makina ay tatanggapin po ng mga makina,” Garcia said.
(Let us remember that those ballots are original ballots. Therefore, when they are fed into the machines, the machines will accept them.)
According to Garcia, the printed ballots were intended for the national elections, as one of the candidates granted by the Supreme Court is a senatorial aspirant.
“Dahil babaguhin ang ballot face, kailangan kasama 'yung pangalan mismo ng kandidato na kasama sa restraining order ng Korte Suprema,” Garcia said.
(Because the ballot face will be modified, the name of the candidate included in the Supreme Court's restraining order must also be included.)
The printed ballots include those for local absentee voting, overseas voting, test ballots and the Bangsamoro elections.
According to the Comelec chairman, the ballots for the local polls in the CARAGA region have also been printed, but their printing has been halted.
When asked about the total cost of the printed ballots, the poll body chief said that each ballot costs P22.
“Yung mga balotang po na ‘yan ay balewala na sa kasalukuyan, dahil ang TRO (temporary restraining order) po ng Korte Suprema ay immediately executory,” he said.
(Those ballots are now void, as the Supreme Court's temporary restraining order is immediately executory.)
On Tuesday, the Comelec halted the printing of ballots for the 2025 elections after the Supreme Court issued a TRO on the disqualification and nuisance candidate declarations for five aspirants.
Supreme Court spokesperson Camille Ting said the restraining order requires including the candidates' names on the ballot.
This marks the first time in history the poll body has stopped ballot printing due to a high court order, Garcia said.