The Commission on Elections (Comelec) is looking to start with the printing of the ballots for the Barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan Elections (BSKE) by Thursday, Sept. 29, Comelec Chairman George Erwin Garcia said Tuesday, Sept. 27.
In a press briefing, Garcia said that he will be going to the National Printing Office (NPO) and will embed the secret marking of the ballots for the BSKE.
"We already instructed the Deputy Executive Director for Administration, the Deputy Executive Director for Operations, and the Education and Information Department Director including more particularly, our Executive Director to separate the Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) for the printing of the ballots and the warehousing of the ballots," he added.
On Saturday, Sept. 24, Garcia clarified that the main reason for the change in schedule is for a window to amend Comelec's MOA with NPO.
He explained that the reason why the ballot printing was moved by one week is that when they spoke with NPO, they offered that instead of bringing the ballots to a different location, they will take responsibility for warehousing it.
The Comelec is set to print more than 91 million ballots for BSKE.
By Thursday (Sept. 29), Garcia said that the morning once he is able to embed the secret marking and sign the MOA, they can already begin with the printing. He stated that they will be printing three million ballots per day.
Comelec has previously stated that it cannot stop its preparations for BSKE.
"Hindi kami pwede huminto sa paghahanda para sa BSKE. Unless may pirmadong batas na ilalabas...Kailangan kami magpatuloy sa paghahanda para pagdating ng December 5, naka-all systems go kami (We cannot stop preparing for BSKE. Unless there is a law signed that will be released...We need to proceed with our preparations so by December 5, we're all-systems-go)," Comelec Acting Spokesperson John Rex C. Laudiangco explained.