Lee’s withdrawal from Senate race won’t affect ballot printing – Comelec

Agri party-list Rep. Wilbert Lee presents his statement of withdrawal from the Senate race. INQUIRER.net/John Eric Mendoza

MANILA, Philippines — The name of Agri party-list Rep. Wilbert Lee will remain on the ballots despite his withdrawal from the 2025  Senate race, Commission on Elections (Comelec) Chairman George Erwin Garcia said on Monday.

“We cannot afford the reprinting of the ballots,” Garcia said in a press conference at the Comelec headquarters in Palacio del Gobernador.

Later in the afternoon, Lee went to the Comelec headquarters to officially file his certificate of withdrawal.

This move meant that any votes for Lee will be declared stray.

“We will not order the reprinting of ballots. His name will remain in the ballots, and if he receives any votes, it is considered stray,” Garcia said.

Former Ilocos Sur Governor Luis “Chavit” Singson and internet personality Norman Mangusin, better known as Francis Leo Marcos also earlier backed out of the Senate race.

Singson withdrew on Jan. 16 due to health issues, while Mangusin backed out last Jan. 23.

Singson’s withdrawal did not affect the printing of ballots, since he backed out when Comelec paused the printing.

Before Singson’s withdrawal, the Supreme Court had blocked Comelec’s move to declare Subair Mustapha as a nuisance candidate on Jan. 14.

The adding of Mustapha’s name led to the rescheduling of ballot reprinting  on Jan. 22, but the withdrawal of Mangusin further delayed the printing which finally resumed on Jan. 27.

Ballot printing update

Meanwhile, Garcia said more than one-fourth of the 72,107,420 ballots have already already been printed.

As of Monday, 19,716,461 ballots, accounting for 27.34 percent of total, have already been printed.

“So far, so good,” Garcia said.