The Commission on Elections on Sunday started the printing of 85-million ballots to be used in the Oct. 31 barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan polls.
Comelec Chairman Andres Bautista said they have started printing the ballots despite uncertainties on whether or not the scheduled polls will push through.
“The long and short of it is we must follow the law, whatever the law may be. Right now, the law says we must have an election on Oct. 31. As long as there is no law that postpones it, we don’t have a choice but to implement the law,” he said.
“And because there is no law yet, and as it is, there are only 70 days before the elections, we are left with no choice but to start printing the ballots already,” Bautista added.
Of the 85-million ballots, 57 million will be for voters in the barangay polls and 28 million are for the SK elections.
“We are allotting 60 days for the printing. Hopefully, we will finish by Oct. 21,” the Comelec chief added.
But Comelec–Printing Committee head Genevieve Guevarra admitted that they will not be printing in full swing since there is a possibility that Congress will postpone the polls.
“The instruction to us is not to go full speed with the printing because there are several bills for the postponement. What we want to avoid is we already have millions printed, then it will just be postponed,” she said.
Bautista said that they are hoping to know the fate of the October elections in the next 10 days.
“I would hope that by the end of August, they already have a decision on whether it will be postponed or not. Once we get a word that the law postponing it will be passed, we will stop with the preparations already,” he added.
Last week, Senator Alan Peter Cayetano filed a bill seeking the postponement of the barangay and SK polls, proposing instead to hold it on the last Monday of October 2018.