MANILA, Philippines — As the printing of about 73 million official ballots for the May 2025 midterm polls began yesterday, the Commission on Elections (Comelec) terminated part of its contract with technology provider Miru Systems.
Comelec Chairman George Garcia said the poll body opted for partial termination of the contract with Miru Systems to allow the National Printing Office (NPO) to take over half of the task of ballot printing.
“We’re still pushing through with our contract (with Miru Systems), but they’re supposed to be printing all of the ballots. If that’s the case, then we cannot ensure they will finish printing by our set deadline of April 14,” Garcia explained in Filipino.
The Comelec chief said the printing of ballots for the 18 regions nationwide was divided between Miru Systems and the NPO.
The NPO will print over 35 million ballots for the Davao region, Zamboanga Peninsula, Northern Mindanao, Eastern Visayas, Negros Island Region, Central Visayas, Western Visayas, Mimaropa, Caraga, Soccsksargen and BARMM.
Over 36 million ballots for the Metro Manila, Cordillera Administrative Region, Ilocos region, Cagayan Valley, Central Luzon, Calabarzon and Bicol shall be printed by Miru.
Miru project managing director Andrew Shim said they support Comelec’s decision.
“It is vital that the ballots are printed on schedule, so that we can properly deliver all peripherals to the different regions around the country,” Shim said.
However, Garcia said the assigned allocations may still be altered depending on the number of ballots printed, and Comelec will pay only for good ballots printed by NPO and Miru.
To meet the April 14 deadline, Garcia said the Comelec has assigned 800 of its personnel to conduct the verification and other activities related to ballot printing.
He said they set the April deadline for ballot printing so they would have more time to do the more difficult task of distributing all the ballots nationwide.
In case the Supreme Court (SC) would issue another temporary restraining order, Garcia said, the Comelec will “act accordingly.”
He said the Comelec already informed the SC that they would resume ballot printing.
But Garcia said names of candidates with pending motions and those disqualified, but without final and executory decision, will be printed on the ballots.
“As long as there is no final and executory decision by election time, all votes for them (candidates with pending motions and decisions) will be considered as valid votes,” he said.
Votes for those candidates who withdrew after the ballot printing shall be considered stray.
In the meantime, six million previously printed ballots will be disposed of, after the SC ordered the inclusion of the name of a previously disqualified senatorial aspirant on the ballot.
Comelec said all six million ballots have already been transferred to its warehouse in Laguna for safekeeping while awaiting disposal.
NPO commitment
Before the start of printing yesterday, Comelec forged an agreement with the NPO.
Together with Miru, NPO director Revsee Escobedo said they are committed to complying with the task of printing about 1.5 million ballots a day, and also gave assurance the NPO will exert efforts to reduce the rate of defective ballots.
To meet the required production, Escobedo said 64 NPO personnel, working in two shifts, will be deployed to man the four machines which will operate for 24 hours.
Oplan Katok to continue
The Philippine National Police (PNP) will continue with its “Oplan Katok” operations, despite concerns raised by Garcia that it might lead to abuse and violation of human rights during the elections.
Brig. Gen. Jean Fajardo, concurrent PNP spokesperson and Central Luzon police director, said Oplan Katok is a regular function of the police force even if the country is not under an election period.
Oplan Katok is a program wherein police officers conduct house visitations on gun owners with expired licenses to remind them to renew their license to own and possess firearms, and surrender their weapons while settling their obligations.
Fajardo said they will be sitting down with Garcia and other Comelec officials to explain the nature of the program. — Emmanuel Tupas