Manila, Feb. 20 -- The Commission on Elections (Comelec) on Thursday said it has printed more than half of the total number of ballots to be used in the May 12 midterm elections.

In a press briefing, Comelec Chairperson George Garcia reported that they have printed 53 percent of the 72,097,420 official ballots.

The Comelec has tasked the National Printing Office (NPO) and Miru Systems to print the official ballots at the former's main office in Quezon City.

At the same time, the poll body said they are pushing back the deadline of the verification process of the ballots that have been printed from April 14 to 20.

"As for our verification, we will be adjusting by a few days our deadline originally targeted to be April 14," he said.

Th...