THE COMMISSION on Elections (Comelec) has given assurance that the printing of official ballots will be completed in time for the May midterm poll despite a delay in releasing the final list of candidates due to pending cases.
In a media briefing on Monday, Comelec Spokesperson James B. Jimenez said the Comelec is expected to settle all cases by the end of this week.
The final list of candidates was supposed to be issued on Dec. 15.
“There are several issues pending, hindi sila comfortable maglabas ng list na meron (they are not comfortable in releasing a list while there are) unresolved issues. We expect by Thursday or Friday, matatapos lahat ‘yan (it would all be settled),” he said.
“We expect to start printing towards the end of this year or first week of January,” he added.
Mr. Jimenez noted that some of the cases are more complex than in previous elections, involving not just petitions for disqualification but also the validity of a party-list candidate’s Certificate of Nomination and Acceptance (CONA).
Meanwhile, the Comelec official said the software for the Election Management Systems (EMS) was already completed last week while the Trusted Build for the Vote counting machines (VCM) and Consolidation and Canvassing System (CCS) are expected to be finished in early January. — Gillian M. Cortez

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