NPO to print 52 M ballots two weeks ahead of elections

MANILA, Philippines - The National Printing Office (NPO) assured the people yesterday that the agency could print more than 52 million official ballots two weeks ahead of the May 13 elections.

NPO director Emmanuel Andaya said three state-of-the-art printers would start printing on Monday to produce the 52,017,360 ballots required by the Commission on Elections (Comelec).

“We have prepared well and we will not fail you. The rolls of paper are here. The printing presses are calibrated. Our operators have undergone extensive training by German, Singaporean and local Canon engineers. The whole NPO staff eagerly awaits the go signal to print,” he said during the opening ceremonies of the printing facility at the NPO office in Quezon City.

Andaya said the printing machines are the newest in the world and “we are confident of finishing two weeks ahead of schedule.” 

The Comelec signed a contract with the NPO to print the ballots within 90 days or until April 25.

Officials of the Comelec, NPO, Parish Pastoral Council for Responsible Voting chair Henrietta de Villa and executives of Holy Family Printing Corp. and its partner Canon Marketing Philippines have unveiled three Canon Color Stream 3000 and Hunkeler CS6 machines that would print and cut the official ballots, respectively.

NPO deputy director Raul Nagrampa claimed each printer could print 314 ballots per minute or a total of one million ballots a day for the three machines.

The printed ballots would be turned over to the Comelec Printing Committee that will test each of them using 156 precinct count optical scan (PCOS) machines.

Nagrampa said the ballots that would fail the PCOS compatibility tests would be properly accounted for and then destroyed with shredders, monitored by closed circuit television (CCTV) cameras.

After passing the PCOS tests, the ballots would be brought to a packaging room where they would be packed and sealed for the polling precincts where they will be used in the May 13 polls.

Nagrampa assured the people that the five types of security features would be in place in each ballot. Two of them are in the ultra-violet ink while the three others involve “paper characters.”