A total of 3,709 boxes containing official ballots for the 2025 national and local elections have arrived in Pangasinan and La Union, election officials confirmed on Monday.

Of the total, 2,869 ballot boxes were delivered to Pangasinan, while the remaining 840 were received in La Union.

The unsealing and unloading of the boxes took place on Sunday.

Pangasinan, the fourth vote-rich province across the country has an estimated 2.1 million voters, while La Union has around 500,000.

According to La Union election officer assistant Marku Dominik Lavaro, the ballot boxes will be kept in the municipal treasury offices until distribution to clustered polling precincts on election day.

Lavaro assured the public that all ballot boxes are accounted for and that strict measures are in place to safeguard them.

“We are always committed to transparency. The Commission on Elections (Comelec) is deeply involved in every step of the electoral process. We want to show the public how organized and secure our preparations are,” he said.

In a separate interview, Dagupan City election officer, lawyer Franks Sarmiento said an inventory and verification process was conducted to ensure the ballots were correct, without opening the sealed boxes.

Meanwhile, Sarmiento said the final testing and sealing of the automated counting machines (ACMs) will be held on Tuesday.

The testing aims to confirm that each machine is complete, operational, and accurately counts the votes.

ACMs in the province have been distributed in municipal or city treasury offices and will be placed in polling centers before election day.

To ensure the security of the machines, police personnel are providing round-the-clock monitoring, he added. (PNA)