Comelec: Everything set for May 12 polls

(UPDATE) COMMISSION on Elections (Comelec) Chairman George Erwin Garcia said the distribution of 7.5 million ballots for the National Capital Region, along with the final testing and sealing (FTS) of the automated counting machines (ACMs), would be completed on Wednesday, five days before the May 12 midterm polls.

"Today, we will start the distribution of ballots to the treasury's office of the cities of Caloocan, Marikina, Pasig, Valenzuela, Quezon, Malabon, Navotas and San Juan, and Muntinlupa, Taguig, Manila, Makati, Pasay, Las Piñas, Mandaluyong, Parañaque and the municipality of Pateros on Wednesday," Garcia said on Tuesday.

"As of now, we are just supervising and monitoring, and waiting for the reports on what we have already accomplished," he added.

The FTS procedure would ensure that all 104,000 counting machines are fully functional on election day.

The Comelec has leased a total of 110,000 ACMs for P17.9 billion from Miru Systems of South Korea.

Of the 110,000 ACMs, only 104,000 would be used in the 2025 polls on a one machine per precinct basis, while the remaining 6,000 would be used as backup machines.

All validated ACMs will be stored at the Office of the Department of Education Supervisor Official until the May 12 elections.

The Comelec printed a total of 68,542,564 official ballots, instead of 72 million because of the rescheduling of the parliamentary elections in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao from May 12 to Oct. 13.

Garcia said official ballots would be delivered to remote areas two days before election day or earlier.

"For far-flung areas where you need to cross a river or ride a banca, and travel or walk for hours before reaching the destination, we will allow early delivery provided that they are accompanied by police or military personnel," he added.

The Comelec has also approved the creation of 10 additional offices for overseas voting user accounts for the overseas counting system admin portal for faster verification.

"This is in consideration of the expected influx of applications at or near the deadline, which will now become less than two days away from the close of voting," a Comelec resolution read.

Overseas voting will be implemented from April 13 until May 12, in 77 Philippine diplomatic posts around the world.