MANILA, Philippines — Senator Risa Hontiveros has called for an increase in the budget of the Commission on Elections (Comelec) next year to help the agency prepare for the 2022 national polls.
Hontiveros said the additional allocation for Comelec can be used to procure more vote-counting machines (VCMs) and allow the poll body to pursue its plans to reduce the number of voters per polling precinct. This way, she noted, voters will be able to observe physical distancing – one of the health protocols to fight the spread of SARS-CoV-2, the new coronavirus that causes COVID-19.
READ: Comelec wants bigger 2021 budget to buy more VCMs for 2022 polls
Also, the senator said, the additional VCMs can help ensure that everyone gets to vote in a single day to avoid cheating and other election anomalies.
“We have to find the safest and most efficient option to retain the integrity of our elections. Hindi dapat maging opportunity ang pandemya para gumawa ng kalokohan (The pandemic should not be an opportunity to carry out irregularities),” Hontiveros said in a statement.
Hontiveros also said the Comelec should consider transitioning to online registration for the rest of the registration period or until September 2021, pointing out that 33 percent of voters consist of those aged 18 to 30 as of the 2019 midterm elections.
Comelec should likewise include in their plans the overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) who have returned home for good and would need to register locally for the elections, she added.
“Hindi natin alam kung kailan magkakabakuna, kaya health concern pa din ang budget ng Comelec leading up to 2022. We have to ensure the elections don’t become a super spreader for COVID-19 infections,” Hontiveros said.
(We are not certain about when a vaccine will become available so Comelec’s budget remains a health concern leading up to 2022.)
She added that “2021 will be our ‘transition year’ into the new normal. We want to encourage as many people as possible to still go out, register, and exercise their democratic right to vote, despite the extraordinary circumstances. We cannot allow COVID-19 to stand in the way of our democracy.”
Hontiveros, however, said that such a proposal for a budget increase would also demand appropriate accountability from Comelec.
“Although we support an increase, we need to study the exact amount that should be given to these adjustments and where the allocation should come from,” she said.
“This is a pandemic-response election that can dictate the direction and the acceleration of our recovery from this crisis. Dapat siguraduhin natin na hindi mahaharang ang karapatan ng mamamayan (We must ensure that the rights of the people will be upheld). We must protect and respect the right to vote, which is the greatest key of our democracy,” she also said.