Manila, Oct. 13 -- The Commission on Elections (Comelec) on Monday started printing the official ballots for the November 2026 Barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan Elections (BSKE) and is confident it will be completed by December.

Interviewed at the National Printing Office (NPO) in Quezon City, Comelec chairperson George Garcia said the printing, including the verification of the ballots, could take "about 45 days or two months at most."

"Hopefully, we will finish by mid-December, including verification," he said. "Verification is not difficult because usually, the only problem with manual elections is miscut or discoloration of the ballots."

For the BSKE, the Comelec and the NPO will print about 90 million ballots, of which 69 million ...