Comelec finishes printing official ballots for Bangsamoro polls
Commission on Elections Chairman George Garcia — Photo from Comelec/Facebook
MANILA, Philippines — The Commission on Elections (Comelec) has completed the printing of official ballots for the first Bangsamoro Parliamentary Elections, it announced on Wednesday.
Comelec Chairperson George Erwin Garcia shared the development six days after the poll body resumed printing the ballots.
“All printing is done,” Garcia told reporters in a Viber message.
READ: Comelec resumes ballot printing for BARMM polls
He earlier said the printing of ballots for Basilan, Tawi-Tawi, and the Special Geographic Area (SGA) was completed last Sunday, while printing for Maguindanao del Sur and Maguindanao del Norte began last Saturday.
He added that the verification of ballots for Tawi-Tawi, Basilan, Maguindanao del Sur, and the SGA has been completed, while verification for Maguindanao del Norte, Lanao del Sur, and Cotabato City is still ongoing.
Verification for the remaining areas, Garcia said, will be finished by next Tuesday or Wednesday.
Under the poll body’s original timeline, the resumption of ballot printing was scheduled from August 28 to September 15, 2025. The process covers ballot printing, verification, forwarding to the Packing and Shipping Committee, and deployment.
The Comelec resumed ballot printing last week after suspending the process following the approval on third and final reading of a bill reallocating seven seats originally intended for Sulu province.
The poll body had initially planned to start printing ballots for Basilan, Tawi-Tawi, and the SGA on August 21. However, this was put on hold to allow Comelec to “further study the implications of the approved bill.”
The Bangsamoro Transition Authority announced on August 19 the passage on third and final reading of Parliament Bill No. 351, which amends Bangsamoro Autonomy Act No. 58 to redistribute the seven district seats originally allocated to Sulu.
READ: Comelec not applying law on BARMM’s parliamentary seat redistribution
The Bangsamoro Parliament has 80 seats: 40 for party representatives, 32 for single-member districts, and eight for sectoral representatives.
However, the Supreme Court ruled to exclude Sulu province from the region after it rejected the ratification of the Bangsamoro Organic Law in a plebiscite.
Following the signing of the bill into law last Thursday, and with ballot printing already resumed, Garcia announced that the poll body will not implement the measure redistributing seven seats, citing insufficient time to adjust preparations for the elections.
Instead, Garcia said, the poll body will maintain the “status quo” by preparing for 73 seats and retaining the original ballot designs, which are already accessible on the Comelec website.
Garcia earlier noted that redistributing seats, which could transfer municipalities from one district to another, might complicate the ballot printing process, since ballots are precinct-specific and include candidate photos and political party logos./mcm
