Comelec reprinting 1.18 million ballots for BSKE

MANILA, Philippines — The Commission on Elections (Comelec) is reprinting close to two million ballots for the upcoming barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan elections to accommodate areas that were recently split or converted from being municipalities into component cities.

Comelec spokesman John Rex Laudiangco yesterday said the reprinting of about 1.18 million official ballots is ongoing at the National Printing Office in Quezon City.

Of the figure, 1.38 million are for the barangay polls. The rest are for the SK elections.

The figure also included 491,153 and 181,030 ballots for the barangay and SK elections, respectively, in Maguindanao del Norte.

For Maguindanao del Sur, the Comelec needs to reprint 422,629 ballots for barangay and 158,813 for the SK polls.

This developed after a plebiscite conducted in Maguindanao in September 2022 resulted in the division of the province into Maguindanao del Norte and Maguindanao del Sur.

The Comelec is also reprinting 228,149 and 67,716 ballots for the barangay and SK elections, respectively, in 10 former Makati villages that were transferred to the jurisdiction of Taguig.

Earlier, the Supreme Court ruled that the enlisted men’s barangays of Makati – Cembo, Comembo, East Rembo, Pembo, South Cembo and West Rembo – as well as Pitogo, Rizal, Northside and Southside are parts of Taguig.

Laudiangco said replacement ballots would also be printed for the city of Baliwag in Bulacan including 111,356 for barangay and 35,718 for SK elections.

For the barangay and SK elections in Carmona, Cavite, the Comelec needs to reprint 58,196 and 18,157 ballots, respectively.

Baliwag and Carmona were converted into component cities following separate plebiscites conducted by the Comelec recently.