MANILAgba777, Philippines — The Commission on Elections (Comelec) said the poll body will start working on the ballot face templates to be used in the different areas of the country for the May 2025 national and local polls.
“By next week, we will be working on the ballot faces for the whole country,” Comelec Chairman George Garcia said at a press briefing during the voter education and automated counting machine roadshow held in Davao City yesterday.
He added this is a huge task given the more or less 2,000 cities and municipalities all over the country.
“Each city or municipality will have a different ballot face because they have different candidates for local positions. We will do that next week and that will include the Bangsamoro,” Garcia said, adding that the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) will have two ballots for each voter.
“The voter (in BARMM) will be receiving one ballot for the national and local elections and another ballot for the parliamentary elections,” he explained.
A ballot face refers to a single side of a sheet on which are printed some or all of the names of candidates to be elected by a voter.
Meanwhile, Garcia said the Comelec is now coordinating with the Department of the Interior and Local Government regarding the issue of private armies.
“I am in talks with (Interior) Secretary Jonvic Remulla regarding the dismantling of private armies,” said Garcia, stressing that peaceful elections are impossible with the existence of such armed groups.
“More than anything else, if private armies will be used to sow fear and terrorize people, then people will not be able to vote freely,” he addedgba777, emphasizing that there should be no private armies in any part of the country at all costs.