Voting resumed Tuesday in the town of Maluso in the province, as replacement ballots arrived from the Commission on Elections (Comelec) central office.

Registered voters will elect four members of regional parliament to represent the province of Basilan in the historic Bangsamoro Parliamentary Elections (BPE) on Monday.

Over 16,000 replacement ballots arrived around 5 a.m. Tuesday, enabling the resumption of voting in Maluso. Voting will end at 7 p.m.

On Monday, the Comelec placed Maluso under its control after poll officials discovered 16,653 pre-shaded ballots in 36 of the 69 clustered precincts.

“The pre-shaded ballots were discovered by the Comelec Special Action Team during an inspection after receiving information that the election materials had been compromised,” Basilan OIC-Provincial Election Supervisor Miguel Roberto Dela Peña told reporters in an interview Monday evening.

Comelec Chairperson George Erwin Garcia said it will investigate the incident involving pre-shaded ballots in Maluso.

Meanwhile, Dela Peña said Tuesday that the provincial Board of Canvassers went on recess pending the completion of voting and the submission of canvassing results from Maluso.

He said another factor prompting the recess is that the Secure Digital (SD) card of one polling precinct in Sumisip town must be reconfigured to enable the municipal board of canvassers to submit the results as a whole.

The provincial board of canvassers convened Monday afternoon at the session hall of the Sangguniang Panlalawigan at the old capitol in this city. (PNA)