MANILA — The Commission on Elections (Comelec) on Friday said it hoped to partner with more malls that could serve as voting sites for the upcoming barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan (SK) elections.

Comelec Spokesperson John Rex Laudiangco said at least 20 malls were expected to participate as voting sites in the October polls. The official did not mention the location and name of the establishments during a public briefing.

• Comelec to pilot early voting, mall voting for barangay and SK elections

"Magtayo kami doon ng ating voting center at iyong mga malalapit na barangay sa paligid ng malls na ito ang siyang makikinabang at makakaboto po dito," Laudiangco said.

"Sana madagdagan pa namin sa mga susunod na buwan itong mga malls na ito na may sapat na espasyo para po doon natin isagawa ang botohan."

(We will set up voting centers there and nearby barangays will benefit and they will be able to vote there. We hope to add more malls with enough space int he next months.)

Laudiangco said the move would lessen the disruption of classes in schools used as voting sites.

"Tuluy-tuloy ang aral ng ating mga estudyante kaya magagamit nila iyong eskuwelahan nila for as long as marami kaming maka-partner na malls," he said.

(Our students can continue their classes at their school if we can partner with many malls.)

Watch more News on iWantTFC

Video from PTV

The Comelec is "100 percent ready" for the October 30 elections, Laudiangco said.

Some 92 million ballots and election returns have been printed and are ready to ship so far, he said.

"Siguro isang buwan bago ang halalan ay iti-training natin ang ating mga guro at iba pang magiging miyembro ng electoral board," the official said.

"Sa loob ng isang linggo po o dalawa o isang linggo bago po ang October 30 ay isi-ship na po natin itong mga naturang balota at iba pang naimprentang kagamitan," he continued.

(Perhaps a month before the elections, we will train our teachers and the members of our election board. A week or two before October 30, we will ship out the ballots and other election materials.)

• Comelec assures credibility of 2025 polls as it pilots overseas 'online voting'
• Comelec: At least 400,000 double registrants found in 2023 barangay, SK polls
• Comelec assures credibility of 2025 polls as it pilots overseas 'online voting'