(January 14, 2025) — The Commission on Elections (COMELEC) has stopped the printing of ballots for the 2025 midterm elections after the Supreme Court issued temporary restraining orders on cases involving disqualified and nuisance candidates.
The TROs were issued against the poll body’s decision to disqualify candidates Edgar Erice for Caloocan City’s 2nd District, and Florendo Ritualo for San Juan City’s 1st District council race.
TROs were also granted for Subair Mustapha and Charles Savellano who were declared nuisance candidates, and Chito Balintay after his candidacy application as Zambales governor was not accepted.
COMELEC spokesperson Atty. John Rex Laudiangco stated that compliance with the Supreme Court’s orders requires reprinting ballots to include the affected candidates’ names.
This also entails revising the candidates’ database, election management system, automated counting machine, and consolidation and canvassing system, as well as updating 1,667 ballot face templates.
Trusted build for the online voting and counting system set for January 15, and mock elections scheduled for January 18, have been postponed.
“While these actions are indeed time consuming and very costly, COMELEC fully respects the decision of the Supreme Court, and we recognize these orders as part of legal processes,” Laudiangco said.
Laudiangco also ensured the public that the delay is no cause for alarm, concern, or panic.
“[T]he COMELEC is fully in control of the situation and will effect the necessary contingency measures to mitigate such,” he said.
(With reports from Camille Samonte, News5)
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