Comelec further cuts barangay poll budget to P2.7 billion

Comelec Chair George Erwin Garcia. (INQUIRER.NET FILE PHOTO)

MANILA, Philippines — The Commission on Elections (Comelec) has further reduced the additional budget it is seeking for the Oct. 30, 2023, barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan (SK) elections from P10 billion to P2.7 billion.

“From P10 billion, we found a way to reduce the additional funds we are requesting,” Comelec Chair George Garcia told reporters on Tuesday.

“We have actually brought it down to P4 billion. [Before] we submitted the documents to the Senate late (Monday) afternoon, we were able to reduce it further to P2.7 billion to P2.8 billion,” he added.

The poll body sought the additional budget based on the argument that postponing the election would mean more voters that would have to be served by more voting precincts with more election workers.

For 2022, the Comelec’s entire budget amounts to P26.7 billion. In 2021, it was appropriated P14.6 billion.

On top of its regular appropriation, the Comelec initially estimated a cost of P8.5 billion for the barangay and SK elections were it to be held on Dec. 5, 2022, as scheduled.

Garcia said the country now has 91 million barangay and SK elections voters, 25 million of whom are SK voters only, but these numbers will increase by an additional 5 million to 7 million voters next year and that would mean 30,000 more precincts, from the current 199,000, and 100,000 more election workers.

But President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. signed last Oct. 10 a law postponing the elections to Oct. 30, 2023, and Garcia said that would entail even more costs for the poll agency.

The latest postponement has been challenged before the Supreme Court for being unconstitutional.

Garcia said they reduced the additional election budget requirement by cutting down on some planned expenditures, such as increasing the number of polling precincts and additional election supplies and paraphernalia.

Of course, there were sacrifices made. We will just increase the number of voters per precinct and forgo purchasing some supplies,” he said.

Last Monday, the Senate finance committee suspended its deliberations on the Comelec’s proposed 2023 budget since poll officials did not provide documents in support of the projected additional expenses for the rescheduled barangay and SK elections next year.

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