(UPDATE) THE Supreme Court has ruled that the Commission on Elections (Comelec) may be compelled to allow the witnessing of the printing of ballots and to fully explain how the vote counting machines (VCMs) it will be using work.

The court en banc issued the ruling through Associate Justice Ricardo Rosario, as it denied the petition for a writ of mandamus filed by the National Press Club of the Philippines (NPC), Automated Election System Watch, and Guardians Brotherhood Inc. to compel the Comelec to implement the use of digital signatures in relation to the 2022 elections.