Residents of Barangay Horseshoe cast their votes for the midterm elections at Clustered Precinct 991 at  a mall in Quezon City on May 12, 2025. Gigie Cruz, ABS-CBN News

MANILA — The Commission on Elections (Comelec) on Tuesday deleted the database containing the ballot faces and voter information sheet used in this year’s midterm elections.

Commissioner Rey Bulay said this is part of the commission’s transparency efforts in accordance with data protection. This will also ensure that the data will no longer be used in any way by anyone.

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“Tinatapos na natin ang huling procedure ng printing process, ang tawag dito ay deletion of files. Lahat ng soft copies ng bawat mukha ng papel na in-issue namin tulad ng official ballot, voter information sheet, yung ginamit sa field testing and sealing, yung mga reprints ay ine-erase natin sa database, servers ng Comelec,” Bulay told reporters during the activity at the National Printing Office. 

The procedure is part of every election, according to the commissioner. Next week, June 24, the Comelec will also go to Bulacan to destroy ballots.

These ballots, he added, would be melted in the Bulacan warehouse.

“Ito ay para sa national and local. Ang sisirain doon ay hard copies. Yung balota talaga na sinira, dadalhin dun para tunawin. Kung mayroong files na naiiwan, mayroon kaming gagawin na ganitong klase din,” he said.

Bulay assured the public that the files do not have any backups, as the law does not allow this.

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