77 M ballots for Barangay, SK polls begin printing today
The printing of the more than 77 million ballots that will be used in the scheduled October 2017 Barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan (SK) Elections will begin today, the Commission on Elections (Comelec) said yesterday.
But unlike past preparations for nationwide elections, ballots for Batanes will first go into print instead of
those for Mindanao, Comelec Chairman Andres Bautista told The Manila Bulletin.
“Why Batanes instead of Mindanao? It’s because we are still set to conduct a public hearing in Mindanao on Tuesday about martial law. What is the impact of martial law in respect of being able to hold elections?” Bautista said.
He said Comelec needs to start with the printing so as not to run out of time in preparations for the elections as the date draws nearer.
“Typically, ballots from the Mindanao area are printed first. However, in view of the possibility of the postponement of the Barangay Elections in Mindanao, due to conditions of violence and terrorism in the area, the initial run of ballots is expected to be of ballots bound for other parts of the country,” Comelec Spokesman James Jimenez said in a statement.
The decision to go ahead with printing ballots was made even as congressmen agreed in principle to postpone the village and youth polls.
“You know for a bill to become a law, it has to have the consensus of both the House and Senate. We are already running out of time. We were supposed to start the printing July 24 and tomorrow is already August 9. That’s why our Printing Committee told me that we need to start already,” said Bautista.
Meanwhile, Jimenez said that the initial print run will not be at 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,” said Jimenez.
The kick-off ceremony will be held at the Basement of the National Printing Office, Quezon City, at 10 a.m. today with Bautista and other poll commissioners expected to attend.
‘Get on with it’ At the House, members of the opposition bloc made the case for pushing through with the scheduled polls on Oct. 23, 2017, despite a consensus among fellow representatives to postpone it to May 2018.
“We are against the postponement. I think we should not deny the people the opportunity to give fresh mandates to the village officials,” said Albay 1st District Rep. Edcel Lagman at a press conference.
Lagman is de facto spokesman of the “Magnificent Seven.” He gave the statement a day after an all-House member caucus voted in favor of deferred the village and youth polls for a second time.