MANILA, March 15 -- The Commission on Elections (Comelec) on Saturday announced that it has printed over 68 million official ballots for the May 12 national and local elections.

In a press briefing, Comelec Chairperson George Garcia said 68,542,564 ballots have been printed since it resumed on Jan. 27 at the National Printing Office (NPO) in Quezon City.

"First of all, I would like to thank the NPO even though we had a problem when we started printing, if everyone remembers, we started on January 27. We said that we would finish printing at all costs by March 15," he said.

Garcia said that the poll body delivered its promise despite challenges.

"We fulfilled what we promised and we are happy and grateful to the NPO, its staff and the ...