MANILA, Aug. 8 — The Commission on Election (Comelec) confirmed it set to start on Wednesday the printing of over 77 million ballots to be used in the Barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan (SK) polls set on October 23.
Comelec Chairman Juan Andres Bautista said the printing will be held at 10:00 am at the National Printing Office (NPO) in Quezon City.
“Tuloy ang printing tomorrow (Wednesday) at 10 am…we are going to start with Batanes,” he said.
Asked on what is the effect if a law has been passed that will postpone the Ocober polls, he said, “But then again you know for a bill to become a law it has to have the approval of both the House of Representative and Senate.”
The poll body chief noted that they decided to begin the printing of the official ballots upon the advice of the printing committee since they are already pressed for time.
“So kami naman as I said nagagahol na kami sa oras. We were supposed to start printing July 24. Tomorrow already is August 9 sinabi sa akin ng aming printing committee so kailangan na tayo magsimula,” he added.
On the other hand, Comelec Spokesperson James Jimenez noted that the initial printing will not be in full capacity.
“The COMELEC Printing Committee will be setting the pace of printing, taking into consideration the quantity of each print run and the performance of the printers in use,” he said.
“More than 77 million ballots are expected to be printed over approximately a two-week period,” the poll body official added.
As of June 2017, there are a total of 77,658,205 voters registered to vote in the 2017 village and youth polls, based on the data of their Election and Barangay Affairs Department.
The number represents, 56,737,237 for voters 18-years-old and above and 20,920,968 individuals aged 15 to 30-years-old. (PNA)
