Printing of ballots to resume Monday – Comelec

MANILA, Philippines — The resumption of the printing of ballots for the midterm elections in May will have to wait until Monday and not this weekend as announced earlier by the Commission on Elections (Comelec), following the withdrawal from the Senate race of a candidate surnamed Marcos whose disqualification was ordered stopped by the Supreme Court.

Comelec Chairman xsaid they have to move the printing schedule from today to Monday due to the withdrawal from the Senate elections of one Francis Leo Marcos. He earlier claimed to be a son of the late president Ferdinand Marcos.

Garcia yesterday said that with Marcos’ withdrawal, the Comelec would need another two to three days to amend its database, redo the serialization of ballots, and come out with new ballot faces.

“But at least, printing hasn’t started yet, so no effect on expenses. If ever, we’ll resume printing Monday morning,” Garcia said.

He said other candidates entertaining thoughts of withdrawing should make a decision by noon today, or before the printing of the updated ballots on Monday. Garcia said votes for candidates who withdrew only after the printing of ballots would just be considered as strays.

After securing a temporary restraining order (TRO) from the Supreme Court on his previous disqualification by the Comelec for being a nuisance candidate, Marcos went yesterday to the poll body’s main office in Intramuros to personally submit his notice of voluntary withdrawal from the senatorial race.

According to Marcos, he decided to withdraw after learning that the Comelec needs to spend an additional P132 million for the reprinting of the ballots.

“So if my candidacy were to cause heavy government spending, then I’d rather – there are more elections ahead – offer my formal withdrawal of candidacy,” Marcos said, explaining his decision.

He added he hopes his decision to back out of the race would smoothen the reelection bid of Sen. Imee Marcos. He said he had asked his supporters to vote for the reelectionist senator. He also denied being prodded by anyone to withdraw from the race.

With Francis Leo’s withdrawal, Garcia said, confusion among voters could be avoided. “On the part of voters, it would be confusing to have two Marcoses on the ballots. His withdrawal would be of great help to the Comelec because we want the elections to be orderly,” Garcia said.

Earlier yesterday, the Comelec announced the resumption of printing of ballots at 3 p.m. today at the National Printing Office (NPO) in Quezon City.

Last Monday, the commission approved a resolution deputizing the NPO for the printing of official ballots for the National and Local Elections and the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao Parliamentary Election.

“There is a need to deputize the NPO to ensure the proper, satisfactory, and timely completion of the printing of the official ballots,” the commission said.

The NPO will provide equipment, systems, consumables and manpower among other necessary materials for the printing of ballots.

The printing of ballots, however, shall remain under the direct control and supervision of the Comelec.

The poll body is targeting the printing of 1.5 million ballots daily to cope with the shortened printing timeline resulting from the suspension in compliance with a Supreme Court TRO.

Eleven aspirants, previously disqualified by the Comelec, obtained a TRO from the high court resulting in the delay in the printing of ballots for three weeks.

Don’t remove names

Meanwhile, veteran election lawyer Romulo Macalintal called on the Comelec to include in the ballot the names of all disqualified aspirants with pending appeals before the Supreme Court.

“It will not be too much burden for Comelec to include in the ballots the names of these 13 candidates with pending appeals in order to ensure that no further wastage of funds and delay in the printing of ballots in case the SC issued another TRO in any of these 13 pending appeals,” Macalintal said. He said the Comelec should be more practical than legal given the current circumstances.

Bukidnon second district Rep. Jonathan Flores, for his part, asked the poll body to make public the list of cases with pending appeal before the SC.

Flores, vice chairman of the House committee on suffrage and electoral reforms and chairman of the House committee on government reorganization, made the appeal as he expressed concerns over delays in the printing of ballots.

“To assuage our concerns, we request Comelec to make public the list of cases appealed to the Supreme Court. This way, the public has a better appreciation of the whole situation,” he said.

“We can see which localities’ ballot printing can proceed separately from the others,” he added.

Flores said that while it is certainly within the powers of the SC to issue TROs, the burden of making sure that the ballot printing gets done on time falls on the Comelec.

“Observing from a distance, I cannot help but get more worried that more delays in ballot printing lie ahead because of appeals of Comelec decisions the Supreme Court has yet to grant,” Flores said.

He said one option that the Comelec may consider is to redesign the ballot in such a way that the sheet for senators is printed separately from the rest.

“Same with the localities where there are pending cases, so that those ballots for localities which are unaffected can proceed for printing,” Flores said.

“Comelec should show the ballot templates affected by cases appealed to the Supreme Court,” he added.

‘Ayuda’ ban extension

Meanwhile, Comelec Commissioner Ernest Maceda said the poll body is eyeing an extension of the “ayuda” ban to prevent candidates and politicians from taking credit for social services programs funded with taxpayers’ money but implemented by the government. Maceda said the Comelec is expected to come out with relevant guidelines by the first week of February.

“Definitely,  there will be prohibition just like for AICS, TUPAD. For others, it’s 10 days prior to election day,” Maceda said.

He cited reports of politicians and candidates taking advantage of aid distribution activities by making it appear to the public that they’re using their own funds.

“Whether it’s the intention or not, you want to avoid those kinds of perspective from the public. At least as election approaches, they won’t have undue advantage,” he stressed.

Maceda said the Kontra Bigay Committee, which he heads, will collate the policies on social services programs such as AKAP, AICS, TUPAD and determine exemptions to avoid “interference by force, fraud, and funds.”

While the Omnibus Election Code already prohibits candidates and politicians from taking part in government aid distribution programs to campaign, many of them have somehow managed to circumvent the law, Maceda explained.

“Since such practices are becoming rampant, we now make it sure that the conduct of these mostly social services is in accordance with the real intention of the law,” he pointed out.   –  Jose Rodel Clapano