The Commission on Elections (Comelec) will resume the printing of 73 million ballots on Wednesday after a weeklong delay due to the Supreme Court’s (SC) issuance of temporary restraining orders (TROs).
The TROs involved nine political aspirants previously declared as nuisance or disqualified candidates in the ballots for the 2025 midterm elections.
Comelec chairperson George Garcia also deputized the National Printing Office aimed to fast-track the reprinting of ballots to print at least 1.5 million ballots daily.
At least six million printed ballots costing more than P150 million were discarded in compliance with the TROs issued by the SC on the various cases of nine election aspirants running for national and local positions.
The poll chief is also hoping the latest TRO issued by the High Court on Monday in favor of petitioner Jonas Cortes, a mayoral aspirant in Mandaue City, Cebu would be the last.
“We are hoping that the printing process will proceed as soon as possible. If there will be new developments, we will see what we can do,” Garcia said.
“We need to make adjustments onward, before the end of April, so that we would be able to finish the printing of ballots,” he added.