DESPITE being more than a year away, the Commission on Elections (Comelec) is pushing through with the printing of the official ballots to be used in the November 2026 Barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan Elections (BSKE).
In a press briefing, Comelec Chairman George Garcia said they have ordered the printing of official ballots by the National Printing Office (NPO) within the month.
"We have given the go signal for the printing of the BSKE ballots even though the BSKE is still November 2026. There is nothing stopping the Comelec from implementing the law that says the BSKE is on November 2026," said Garcia.
"We have decided that, this October, the printing of the 93 million ballots, including SK and barangay ballots, will begin," he added.
The poll chief said they have decided to push through with the ballot printing to avoid conflicts when the NPO starts printing those for the Bangsamoro Parliamentary Elections (BPE) set on March 2026.
"This is so that when ballots are printed for the BPE, those two activities will no longer be in conflict. The BSKE ballots will have been completed then the BPE ballots will follow," Garcia said.
He said printing the official BSKE earlier will also prevent wastage of the ballot paper.
"We already have the paper. The quality of the paper might be compromised if we don't use it right away. We decided to print it and just safekeep them in our warehouse in Sta Rosa (Laguna)," said Garcia.
It can be recalled that the passage of the Republic Act No. 12232 rescheduled the BSKE from December 2025 to November 2026. (Anton Banal/SunStar Philippines)