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Manila Bulletin devider Philippines devider National devider Comelec can no longer remove names despite withdrawal once ballot printing starts -- poll chief

Comelec can no longer remove names despite withdrawal once ballot printing starts -- poll chief

Published Jan 24, 2025 03:43 pm

Commission on Elections (Comelec) Chairman George Erwin Garcia said on Friday, January 24 that it would no longer remove poll aspirants' names even if they would withdraw their candidacy for the May 2025 national and local elections.

In an interview on Teleradyo Serbisyo, Garcia said that they would implement this, once they start printing ballots.

"Kapag nag-iimprenta na kami ng balota at may mag-wiwithdraw pa, hindi na po namin matatanggal yung mga pangalan po nila idedeklara na lang naming 'stray' yung lahat po ng boto sa kanila (Once we start printing ballots and someone decides to withdraw, we won't be able to remove their names. We will just declare all the votes for them as 'stray')," he said.

"Kasi po kung magwiwithdraw na naman sila hanggang Sunday halimbawa, eh magsisimula kami sa Monday ma-rereset na naman po ang aming printing ng balota (Because if they would withdraw again on Sunday, for example, and we would be starting on Monday, we would reset again the printing of ballots)," he added.

Asked what the poll body would do in case the Supreme Court (SC) issues another Temporary Restraining Order (TRO) to include a poll aspirant's name in the ballot, Garcia refused to comment on this.

"Hanggang kaya namin sumunod, hanggang kaya namin tumalima, susunod at tatalima ang inyong Comelec. Supreme Court po iyan, kataas-taasang hukuman ng bansa ("As long as we can follow and comply, your Comelec will follow and comply. That is the Supreme Court, the highest court of the land)," he said.

But Garcia mentioned that there have been instances during the elections in 2016, 2019, and 2022 wherein the poll body defied the TROs issued by the SC and this led to the Comelec being cited in contempt. Yet the poll chief also hopes that the situation no longer reaches this point.

Last Tuesday, Jan. 21, Comelec rescheduled the printing of ballots once again which was supposedly on Wednesday, Jan. 22. This is to amend the candidates' database; add their names in the election management system using the new add feature; generate new 1,667 ballot faces; have these ballot faces checked and verified; and serialize all the ballots prior to printing and production.

SC Spokesperson lawyer Camille Sue Mae L. Ting said TROs were issued in favor of Francis Leo Antonio Marcos, a senatorial aspirant who was declared a nuisance candidate, and Noel E. Rosal, whose certificate of candidacy for governor of Albay was canceled due to his dismissal by the Office of the Ombudsman which also ordered his perpetual disqualification to hold public office.

Comelec was looking to start printing again by Saturday, Jan. 25, but Marcos later withdrew his candidacy, rescheduling it once again to Monday, Jan. 27. They hope to print 1.5 million ballots a day using printers from the National Printing Office (NPO) and Miru Systems.

Related Tags

Supreme Court (SC) 2025 elections comelec chairman george erwin garcia Commission on Elections (Comelec) temporary restraining order
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