Comelec starts destroying 6.7 million invalid ballots

MANILA, Philippines — The Commission on Elections (Comelec) yesterday started to get rid of over six million invalid official ballots printed for the May 12 midterm elections.

The Comelec said the move to destroy 6.7 million unused ballots, including accountable forms, aims to make it useless to anyone at any time.

“We now reach this part of ‘setting on fire’ these invalid ballots so it cannot be used anymore. The first step is to tear the paper apart which will later be brought to a site in Pampanga for melting,” said Commissioner Rey Bulay of the committee on ballot printing, during the symbolic start of disposal held at the National Printing Office

The tearing of the ballots will take 10 days, he said.

Bulay said among the materials set to be destroyed are ballots which are crumpled, with smudges, black marks on the lower part of the paper, tears, discoloration as well as ones lacking print at the back.

Checking the ballots after printing made possible the identification of invalid ones.

“Apart from the use of machines, physical checking of ballots was also done, as the Comelec hired people to do that particular job,” he added.

Compared to the last elections, the number of invalid ballots increased from 3 million to 6.7 million for this year’s midterms.

“This is because we printed more. There were more errors committed and we also faced a TRO (temporary restraining order),” Bulay said.

There are 32,680 accountable forms set for disposal and destruction. For the midterm elections, the Comelec said 68,542,564 official ballots were printed.

Bets reminded on SOCE

Meanwhile, the Comelec said that only one senatorial candidate and four party-list organizations have filed their Statements of Contributions and Expenditures (SOCEs) in relation to the midterm elections.

The poll body said as of May 29, it had received only five SOCEs from national candidates. Senatorial bet Vic Rodriguez filed his SOCE last May 23.

Party-lists that filed their SOCEs were Abono, Abante Pangasinan-Ilokano, 1-Pacman and Partido Demokratiko Sosyalista ng Pilipinas.

The Comelec’s political finance and affairs department said the submission of SOCE may be done during weekdays, including Saturdays and holidays, from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. It added that SOCE filed beyond the deadline shall not be accepted.

All candidates, political parties, and party-list groups are required to file their SOCEs 30 days after elections, or until June 11, 2025.