Miriam's party asks Comelec to explain omission from ballot
MANILA, Philippines - The People's Reform Party (PRP), the party of presidential aspirant Sen. Miriam Defensor Santiago, on Thursday asked the Commission on Elections (Comelec) for a resolution on the omission of its name from the printing of official ballots.
The party cited photographs from various media organizations during a press briefing last Monday which showed that PRP was omitted from the official ballot for the May 9 elections.
"Upon discovery of this inexplicable incident, our legal team immediately raised the issue with the Commission's Law Department which assured us that "PRP" is included in the Official Ballot as the political party of candidate Miriam Defensor-Santiago," PRP counsel Fatima Lipp Panontongan said in a letter addressed to Comelec Chair Juan Andres Bautista.
PRP said that the Comelec Law Department instructed them to wait for the list that to be released on Tuesday but it was never published on the commission's website.
The commission's Education and Information Department, however, confirmed that the photos from the media during the walkthrough in the National Printing Office on Monday were official ballots, the party said.
Santiago's party requested for a written explanation from the poll body on how it was omitted from the official ballot.
The party also asked the Comelec to invalidate all existing ballots with the omission and requested for the poll body's commitment to include the PRP in all ballots as the political party of Santiago.
The poll body stopped the printing of official ballots after finding that the party of Santiago was omitted.
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