The Commission on Elections (Comelec) started the printing of ballots on Mon, Feb 15 after three postponements — from the original schedule in Jan 26, then Feb 1, and Feb 8.
But those postponements may have been the universe’s way of telling the Comelec that there was something missing.
“The printing of ballots at the National Printing Office (NPO) in Quezon City was stopped last Monday, February 15, after the slot for presidential aspirant Sen. Miriam Defensor-Santiago was found to have omitted her People’s Reform Party,” reports Sheila Crisostomo in The Philippine Star.
Comelec printing committee head Genevieve Guevarra explained that “the printing machines had just started rolling and produced 39 ballots that would be used for the Final Testing and Sealing (FTS) of the vote counting machines (VCMs) when they noticed the discrepancy.”
Guevarra disclosed, “The printing was immediately stopped. We sent the ballots to the warehouse in (Sta. Rosa) Laguna to regenerate a new ballot face so that the party of Senator Santiago will be included.”
The report noted: “The Comelec is leasing a warehouse in Sta. Rosa where the VCMs, ballot boxes and other paraphernalia are being kept. It is also in this property where the VCMs are tested and configured.”
