The Commission on Elections (Comelec) moved the resumption of the printing of ballots to Monday next week after Francis Leo Marcos dropped his Senate bid, forcing the Comelec to make changes anew to the serialization of ballots for the May 2025 midterm elections.
“The printing of ballots will not push through on Saturday as we earlier announced because of the sudden withdrawal of Norman Mangusin, also known as Leo Marcos from the senatorial race,” Poll chairman George Garcia told reporters.
Garcia likewise appealed to other political candidates who would like to withdraw from the coming polls to submit their application of withdrawal now so that the poll body would have time to update the faces before printing the ballots..
The poll chief gave aspirants until afternoon of January 24 to file their withdrawal at the Comelec office in Intramuros, Manila, saying that after the deadline, the poll body will accept their application but their names on the ballot will still be included.
“However, their votes would be considered stray because they are no longer candidates,” he said.
He assured that Marcos’ withdrawal from the Senate race will not incur any cost or money since the printing has not yet started.
Garcia said that by Monday morning, the Comelec may finish the generation of the updated faces and the serialization of ballots and the inclusion of the latest names that the Supreme Court ordered added.
“We will push through with the printing of ballots on Monday morning, “ he added.
In a viber message, the poll chief said he would write Supreme Court Chief Justice Alexander G. Gesmundo to inform him about the Commission’s move to proceed with the printing this weekend.
He said the names of nine national and local position aspirants, who are the subjects of temporary restraining orders (TRO) issued by the Supreme Court, would be included in the official ballot.
The resumption of ballot printing was supposed to be carried out on Wednesday, Jan. 22, but the TRO issued by SC on Tuesday granting Norman Mangusin a.k.a Francis Leo Marcos deferred the printing anew.
“The Comelec respects the honorable Supreme Court,” said Garcia adding “that’s the parameters of the Comelec for the time being, and if there is a number 4 we will talk about it later.”