THE Commission on Elections (Comelec) said it would resume printing ballots on Jan. 24, after the Supreme Court (SC) ordered the inclusion of two more candidates in the midterm elections this May.
This followed the issuance of temporary restraining orders (TROs) against the poll body on Tuesday after it disqualified social media personality Francis Leo Marcos and dismissed Albay Governor Noel E. Rosal.
In a Viber chat with BusinessWorld on Wednesday, spokesman John Rex C. Laudiangco said the printing would restart on Friday to include two political bets, while the mock election would be on Saturday, Jan. 25.
The poll body started printing ballots for the May 12 midterm elections last Jan. 6, but halted printing after the top court issued the first round of TROs from Jan. 14.
Comelec said about 6 million ballots were wasted, amounting to P22 each.
Meanwhile, Chairman George Erwin M. Garcia said Comelec will commence its three-month training of field officials on Jan. 27.
“Monday next week (Jan. 27) is the start of our national and local elections (NLE) training. It will last until May,” Mr. Garcia told reporters in a Viber chat on Wednesday.
The training covers operations for the automatic counting machines, which the election commission will use for the first time in May, replacing the previously used precinct count optical scanners. — Chloe Marie A. Hufana
