Comelec allowed to use ballot boxes in VP case

MANILA, Philippines - The Commission on Elections (Comelec) was given the go-signal to use some 5,000 ballot boxes involved in the protest case filed against Vice President Jejomar Binay by his rival former Senator Manuel Roxas, in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) polls in August.

In a nine-page resolution, the Presidential Electoral Tribunal (PET), where the case is pending, granted the Comelec’s motion to utilize the ballot boxes, citing lack of time and high cost of procuring new ones.

The contents of the ballot boxes will be transferred to a compressed Committee Box, each one containing ballots from four ballot boxes.

Comelec Commissioner Rene Sarmiento said procuring 5,000 new ballot boxes would cost some P17 million.