MANILA - With 60 days left before the May 9 national and local polls, the Commission on Elections (Comelec) might find itself going back to the drawing board.

Comelec Chairman Andres Bautista said Thursday the poll body might reconstruct the trusted build of the vote-counting machines (VCMs) to accommodate a Supreme Court order to enable the printing of voter's receipts.

"Merong mungkahi na in order to be prudent about the preparations kung hahayaang magkaroon ng voting receipt kailangan daw ng panibagong Trusted Build," Bautista said.

The trusted build is considered the blueprint of the software that will be used by the VCMs. Bautista said reconstructing the trusted build will take the poll body several weeks.

The Comelec chief added that the process might also require the reconfiguration of over 90,000 SD cards of the VCMs and retraining of board of election inspectors (BEIs).

Bautista said the Comelec is also preparing the bidding process for the materials for the receipts, including over a million rolls of thermal paper, and receptacles for the receipts.

Bautista said the poll body is now feeling the impact of the SC decision on their timeline.

By now, the poll body has already put on hold the scheduled pre-Logic and Accuracy Test of the VCMs. Bautista said they are also studying whether to shorten the one-month period of Overseas Absentee Voting which is set to begin on April 9.

"Sa aming palagay, bago nagkaroon ng desisyon na ito, we were on the right track in respect of our goal and objective of having credible and orderly elections. Pero ngayon nga, we were thrown a curve ball at ngayon ina-assess namin kung anong mga dapat gawin," Bautista said.

The Comelec has also scheduled an emergency meeting with the Comelec Advisory Council and Technical Evaluation Committee for consultation about the changes on the timetable of preparations. The poll body will also meet with political parties and candidates in the afternoon to update them on the preparations and impact of the printing of receipts.

However, the Comelec is still set to file a Motion for Reconsideration to the Supreme Court via the Office of the Solicitor General tomorrow.

Bautista said other options are still being discussed, including moving for the postponement of the elections.

"All options are being considered. Ang isang tanong na aming pinagdedebatihan is that 'ano ba ang mandato ng Comelec? Magkaroon ng isang halalan lang, o kailangan ba na ang halalan ay maging mabuti, maayos at credible," he said.

The poll chief, however, conceded that passing a law is required to postpone the elections.