THE pre-shaded ballots of Maluso, Basilan are coming to Manila soon as the Commission on Elections (Comelec) has ordered that the said ballots be secured immediately.
In a memorandum issued Tuesday night, September 15, 2026, Comelec Executive Director Teopisto Elnas said the compromised official ballots must be immediately turned over to the Law Department.
"Atty. Miguel Roberto T. Dela Pena (Acting Provincial Election Supervisor) is hereby instructed to secure and turn over said ballots to Dir. Vergil Juan S. Soriano (Senior Staff Monitor)," said Elnas.
"Dir. Soriano is further instructed to bring the pre-shaded ballots to the Main Office of the Commission, in Intramuros, Manila, not later than September 17, 2026 and submit it to the Law Department for the conduct of an investigation on the matter," he added.
A total of 16,563 official ballots of 36 polling precincts in Maluso, Basilan were found to be pre-shaded on the eve of Election Day.
This prompted the Comelec to order the reprinting of the official ballots, which delayed voting in the 36 polling precincts until the following day.
In a separate interview, Comelec Chairman George Garcia has vowed to hold accountable those behind the pre-shading of official ballots in Maluso, Basilan.
He said they are committed to seek liability from individuals, including filing electoral sabotage charges against them.
"Just wait for the Commission En Banc to return to Manila, and we will immediately issue the appropriate orders and directives so we can begin holding the responsible parties accountable," Garcia said.
"This constitutes possible electoral sabotage," he added.
An electoral sabotage case is considered as a special election offense with the penalty to be imposed being life imprisonment.
An electoral sabotage is defined as any form of tampering of votes, where the total votes involved exceed 10,000 votes. (Anton Banal/SunStar Philippines)
