MANILA – The Commission on Elections (Comelec) has begun the printing of more than 870,000 ballots and other accountable forms for the two plebiscites scheduled next month.

In an advisory on Wednesday, the poll body said the first plebiscite to be held on September 3 would ratify the conversion of the municipality of Calaca, Batangas into a component city.

The other one, scheduled on September 17, would ratify the division of the province of Maguindanao into two provinces to be known as Maguindanao del Norte and Maguindanao del Sur.

According to the Comelec Printing Committee, it has printed 58,881 official ballots for the Calaca, Batangas plebiscite as of Tuesday.

Each ballot measures 4.5 inches by 8 inches and bears the question, “Pumapayag ka ba na ang munisipalidad ng Calaca ay gawing isang lungsod ng probinsya ng Batangas na kikilalanin bilang lungsod ng Calaca alinsunod sa Batas Republika Bilang 11544 na kilala din bilang Charter of the City of Calaca? (Do you agree to the conversion of the municipality of Calaca into a component city of the province of Batangas, which will be known as the City of Calaca, pursuant to Republic Act 11544, also known as the Charter of the City of Calaca?)”

Voters will write either “Yes” or “Oo” to vote for the approval of the proposal, or “No” or “Hindi” to vote for its rejection, on the blank after the question.

Meanwhile, 818,790 ballots will be printed for the Maguindanao plebiscite.

The printing will continue in the next few days at the National Printing Office in Diliman, Quezon City.

The manual election system is used for the conduct of plebiscites.

Ballots are accomplished manually by the voters by writing the answer for the approval or rejection of the proposed measure. (PNA)