Comelec to comply with SC’s TROs, even if it delays ballot printing

BIÑAN, Laguna — The Commission on Elections (Comelec) will comply with the Supreme Court’s (SC) directive, even if it results in another delay in printing the ballots for the midterm elections, its chairman George Garcia said on Tuesday.

Garcia had previously stated that the Comelec would need to reprint new ballots by January 22 “at all costs,” but a temporary restraining order (TRO) from the SC, favoring aspirants declared as nuisance candidates, would force the poll body to delay the printing once again.

READ: Comelec to resume ballot printing on Jan 22 ‘at all costs’

The SC en banc holds its regular hearing on Tuesday, and new TROs may be issued, which, in effect, would add more names to the ballot.

“If there are TROs for national positions, we will comply with the orders of our Honorable Supreme Court, but we would have to reset the printing of ballots,” Garcia said in an interview here at the Comelec warehouse where the new ballot faces were unveiled.

The ballot faces for the midterm polls now contain the name of senatorial aspirant Subair Mustapha.

On Jan 14, the SC issued a TRO that blocked Comelec from declaring Mustapha a nuisance candidate.

Only TROs favoring senatorial and party-list groups would disrupt the initial printing process, as these are the only positions listed on the ballots for local and overseas absentee voters, as well as Bangsamoro voters, which are being printed first.

The printing of over six million ballots for these voters began on Jan. 6 and was done a few days later. However, these ballots were discarded since they did not contain Mustapha’s name, resulting in a P132 million loss for the poll body.

READ: Comelec to recycle unusable ballot papers for 2025 polls