Release of official list of 2016 bets moved to December 23

MANILA, Philippines – The provisional list of candidates for next year’s polls will be out on Dec. 23.

It has been delayed by a week or from the original schedule of Dec. 15, Commission on Elections (Comelec) Chairman Andres Bautista said yesterday.

“The question is – until when can we still edit (the lists)?” he said. “We were told until Jan. 8.”

The poll body is eyeing the final list to be released on Jan. 8 next year, at which time changes will no longer be allowed because ballot printing has been scheduled to start by third week of January, Bautista said.

They failed to meet the Dec. 15 deadline because of the volume of pending motions for reconsideration, he added.

This includes the motion of Sen. Grace Poe, whom the Comelec Second Division disqualified last Dec. 1 based on the petition of lawyer Estrella Elamparo that she did not meet the requirements for citizenship and residency.

Twenty-nine other motions for reconsideration were received from aspirants for president, vice president and senators whom the Comelec declared motu proprio as nuisance candidates.

The Comelec will still allow their names to be printed on the ballots even if their motions for reconsideration have not been resolved with finality, Bautista said.

“We will be doing marathon deliberations because we want all of these cases resolved soon,” he said.