P21M allotted for special polls for Ignacio Arroyo House seat

Negros Occidental Representative Ignacio “Iggy” Arroyo Jr.

BACOLOD CITY—A little over a year before the next regular elections, voters in the fifth district of Negros Occidental will have to elect a replacement for the late Rep. Ignacio Arroyo.

The Commission on Elections (Comelec), in an en banc resolution, approved a budget of at least P21 million to hold a special election in Arroyo’s district on June 2, according to Jessie Suarez, provincial election supervisor.

The resolution, dated March 28, also suspended the registration of voters starting April 1 to give way to preparations for the special election.

As of January 2012, the fifth district of the province has at least 206,466 voters.

Several groups had asked the Comelec to let voters of Arroyo’s district to just elect their next congressman in elections next year instead of holding special elections barely a year before regular balloting.