6 million printed ballots for 2025 polls to be destroyed by Comelec

MANILA, Philippines — Six million printed ballots for 2025 elections will be destroyed by the Commission on Elections (Comelec). This was after a recent Supreme Court (SC) order stopping the poll body from declaring a senatorial aspirant as a nuisance candidate.

They immediately stopped printing ballots in compliance with the temporary restraining orders (TRO) issued by the SC on the various cases of five election aspirants, said Comelec Chairman Erwin Garcia.

“‘Yung anim na milyong balota ay kinakailangang iimbentaryo. Kailangang mainform sa COA [Commission on Audit] sapagkat kinakailangang bayaran yung naimprentang balota,” Garcia said in a press conference on Wednesday.

(The 6 million ballots need to undergo inventory. The COA needs to be informed because the printed ballots need to be paid.)

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“Hihingi ng pahintulot sa COA na itong mga balota ay sirain na agad ng Comelec. Hindi po sunog, i-shred po natin sapagkat para mawala yung agam-agam na baka magamit sa isang halalan,” Garcia added.

(We will ask permission from the COA because the ballots will be destroyed by the Comelec. They will not be burned  but will be shredded so there will be no accusations that they can be used in the elections.)

Out of the five TROs issued by the High Court on Tuesday, Garcia said that they were not anticipating the case of senatorial aspirant Subair Mustapha, who was initially declared as a nuisance candidate.

The other four cases are aspirants seeking local posts.

He added that the Comelec will have to amend the numbering of the affected senatorial aspirants on the ballots.

“Letter M po kasi yung pangalan ng kandidatong nakakuha sa national position sa senador na posisyon and therefore, kapag pinasok po natin, kapag binilang yung sa 66 na present na kandidato, 12 po ang senador na nasa ilalim na maaaring maapektuhan,” he stated.

(The candidate’s name in the national position of senator is M and therefore, if we include them, and count the 66 senators at present, 12 senators underneath the list will be affected.)

The Comelec said the printed ballots to be destroyed will cost around P150 million, including the salary for employees working in the National Printing Office.

“Yung isang balota ay more or less P22, ‘yan po ang binabayaran sa National Printing Office. Syempre po di pa kasama yung papel, yung ink,” he added.

(Each ballot costs more or less P22, that’s what we pay the National Printing Office. The cost of paper and ink are not included.)

The poll body began printing ballots last Monday, January 6, where Comelec Chairman George Erwin Garcia previously said that around 78 million ballots will be printed.

Garcia also said that the poll body has to change the election management system, database, serialization of the names and the ballot faces.