MANILA -- The National Printing Office (NPO) has printed half of the total official ballots to be used for the automated elections this May 2010.

NPO printed a total of 861,850 ballots last Sunday -- 386,685 during the morning shift and 475,165 in the night shift -- bringing the grand total to 25,397,702 election ballots.

The fifth printer, which started running last weekend, has surpassed its target of 100,000 ballots per day. Instead, it printed 206,311 ballots, the Commission on Elections (Comelec) reported.

The deadline of ballot printing is set on April 25.

Comelec Commissioner Gregorio Larrazabal earlier said that NPO will continue printing even during the Holy Week to maximize production. (Kathrina Alvarez/Sunnex)