MANILA — The Commission on Elections (Comelec), sitting as the National Plebiscite Board of Canvassers (NPBOC), will reconvene on Monday for the canvassing of the votes of the second Bangsamoro Organic Law (BOL) plebiscite held in Lanao del Sur and North Cotabato.
“We are reconvening on Monday, so I guess we are going to expect arrival (of Certificates of Canvass) over the weekend. We have a reception committee and they will be safeguarding the documents when they arrive over the weekend until we are able to convene and canvass,” Comelec spokesperson James Jimenez said in a press briefing.
The NPBOC reconvened on Thursday but immediately declared a recess as they have not received any COCs.
Meanwhile, Jimenez announced that they will start printing the official ballots to be used in the May 13 midterm polls on Saturday at the National Printing Office (NPO) in Quezon City.
While noting that they are on a tight schedule, Jimenez expressed confidence that they will be able to print the ballots on time, citing their experience in the 2016 polls.
“We are calling it sort of tight but in the 2016 elections, we started printing February 12. So if we start February 9 then we are still three days early considering that in 2016 we started February 12 and we were able to print the ballots on time,” Jimenez added.
The Comelec will be printing over 60 million ballots for the May 2019 polls.
