Melo wants ballots to stay at NPO

Commission on Elections (Comelec) chairman Jose Melo on Tuesday said he wants that the printed ballots be kept at the National Printing Office (NPO) in Quezon City, even if the poll body has to pay for the space. In an interview with reporters, Melo said he would prefer that the ballots be stored at the NPO rather than at the Foreign Service Mail Distribution Center (FSMDC), a facility of the Philippine Postal Corporation in Port Area, Manila, where some of the ballots have already been transferred. "Sabi ko, maski magbayad tayo sa NPO... ipa-keep muna (I told them, even if we have to pay the NPO, let them keep it there for a while) and we will rent the space," he said. However, the poll body chief said that the NPO really does not have anymore space to spare. The 50 million ballots for the May polls are being printed at the NPO, about 33 million of which have been printed. As a solution, Melo said that they are currently looking for other warehouses nearer the NPO where the ballots can be kept. "Merong seemingly available areas dun so mababawasan ang mga gastos (There are seemingly available areas near there, so we can cut down on expenses)," he said. He issued the statement after Senate Minority Leader Aquilino Pimentel Jr. asked the Comelec to explain why it had supposedly paid P92 million for the transfer of the ballots to the FSMDC. (See: 1M ballots moved to Manila after printing office runs out of space) Some 1,528 ballot packs — containing a million ballots for Leyte — comprised the first batch to be transferred because it was the latest printed. But Melo said that the P92 million was just a "proposal." He likewise agreed that the amount was too expensive. He added that the amount was lowered to P56 million but that he still finds it too high. "Kung gagasta tayo ng ganyan, bakit hindi na lang natin ipadala sa kanilang destinations, kaya lang di naman pwede (If we're going to spend that much why don't we just send the ballots directly to the destinations, but we can't do that yet)," he said. On Monday, Comelec Commissioner Gregorio Larrazabal said that they have yet to pay for the first transfer of ballots. Comelec spokesman James Jimenez added that they plan to transfer about 25 million ballots from the NPO to the FSMDC. Larrazabal said that they plan to move the ballots for Romblon and Quezon next.—Kimberly Jane T. Tan, GMANews.TV