The Commission on Elections (Comelec) will have more time to review the inclusion of candidates’ photos and political party logos on ballots in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM).

Comelec spokesperson John Rex Laudiangco said the poll body will delay reprinting ballots for the region, mindful that Congress has yet to decide the date of the first regular elections in the region.

The House of Representatives approved a proposal to postpone the parliamentary elections to May 2026 or one year after the midterm elections. The Senate version proposed a different dateA: October 2025.

“Ihuhuli po namin sa pagiimprenta itong BARMM parliamentary elections na ballots nang sa gayon mabigyan ng paraan, maaral ng ating IT (information and technology) group kung paano ang technical solution na ma-accomplish po ito,” Laudiangco said in a radio interview last Friday, Jan. 24.

(“We will print the ballots for the BARMM parliamentary elections last so that our IT group can find a technical solution to accomplish this.”)

The Comelec discarded the initially printed 6 million ballots, including 2.3 million ballots for BARMM.

Election watchdog Legal Network for Truthful Elections (LENTE) previously asked Comelec why the region’s election ballots did not include photos of candidate and a “none of the above” option. These are required “as far as practicable” under Section 14, Article 4, Chapter 1 of the Bangsamoro Electoral Code (BEC).

Laudiangco said that they will not include a “none of the above” option because voters can simply abstain from voting on a specific position.

“Yung ‘none of the above’ option po kasi may pag-aaral na po kami na wala pong pagkakaiba kung mag-abstain ka na lang. Wala kang susulatan, pareho ng manual election. Baka makalito pa kung maglalagay ng ‘none of the above,’” he said.

(“In our study, the ‘none of the above’ option is not different from abstaining. Just don’t write or anything, like in manual elections. People might be confused if we include ‘none of the above.’”)

Postponing the BARMM polls could alter the ballot templates if the filing of Certificates of Nomination and Acceptance is reopened, leading to possible changes in the list of candidates from those who filed their Certificates of Candidacy (COCs) in November 2024.

If the candidates will be the same, Laudiangco said that Comelec can simply reuse the reprinted ballots. Otherwise, they will have to schedule a new filing period and print new ballots.

“Sa ngayon po kasi 25 positions lang yung sa (parliamentary) district representative dahil may seven na nawala nung inalis ang Sulu sa BARMM. E papaano kung yung batas e magsabi na dapat yung seven madistribute din sa ibang lugar para makumpleto muli yung 80 members of parliament?” he said.

(“As of now, there are only 25 positions for the (parliamentary) district representatives because seven were left blank after Sulu was excluded from the BARMM. What if the postponement law says that the seven seats must be distributed to other areas in order to complete the 80 members of parliament?”)

The Comelec started reprinting ballots on Monday, January 27, after the Supreme Court ordered the commission to include some candidates who were previously disqualified. It cost them about P132 million.

The poll body is already behind its printing schedule by three weeks. It hopes to finish printing all 73 million ballots by April 14. — Guinevere Latoza/PCIJ.org