Each barangay told to give P10,000 for polls or face charges

By: Tina G. Santos - 11 years ago

Commission on Elections chairman Sixto Brillantes. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO

MANILA, Philippines – Contribute money for October’s elections or face election offense charges.

This was the warning issued by the Commission on Elections to officials of the country’s villages (barangay), the smallest unit of government in the Philippines, who fail to allocate P10,000 for the conduct of the barangay elections on October 28.

Comelec Resolution No. 9739 requires each barangay unit to set aside as much as P10,000 from its annual budget to defray election expenses because the amount of P1.17 billion allotted in the national budget for the elections is “insufficient.”

“If they will not help us, let me stress that it is in our resolution that if they do not give P10,000 from the barangay, it is an election offense,” Comelec Chairman Sixto Brillantes said in an interview.

Brillantes noted that an election offense carried penalties of imprisonment of one to six years, removal of the right to vote, and disqualification from public office.

The Comelec had said that the barangay elections would require a budget of P3.45 billion but that the General Appropriations Act of 2013 allocated only P1.175 billion for them.

The Comelec resolution states that the P1.17 billion was far short of the amount needed “to ensure that the elections are honest, orderly, peaceful and credible.”

Brillantes said the Comelec hoped the local officials would not hesitate to give the required amount.

According to the resolution, local governments are required by the Omnibus Election Code to contribute funds when necessary, spending for the “reasonable expenses of the members of the board of election tellers (BET), board of canvassers and the printing of election forms.”

“We will use the money for our teachers, who will serve as Board of Election Tellers (BETs)… I think it is their (local officials) obligation to help us in funding this election,” Brillantes said.