No budget for Comelec for Charter change plebiscite

Comelec office. FILE PHOTO

MANILA, Philippines—The Department of Budget and Management (DBM) is apparently not interested in giving the Commission on Elections (Comelec) the budget for the poll body to hold a plebiscite for the economic Charter change next year.

During the budget briefing in the House of Representatives on Thursday, Chairman Sixto Brillantes Jr. said the DBM scrapped their proposed P7.09-billion budget for the Charter change plebiscite in 2015.

“They’re not interested,” Brillantes told lawmakers in the chamber, where the move to amend the economic provisions in the Constitution started in the form of Resolution of Both Houses 1 authored by Speaker Feliciano Belmonte Jr.

The proposal if passed would need to undergo a plebiscite to be ratified. It seeks to ease the economic restrictions in the Charter to allow more foreign investments.

Brillantes said Comelec would not even have enough time to prepare for the plebiscite if the Charter change resolution is passed this year.

The Comelec is seeking a P16.944 billion in their 2015 budget in the National Expenditure Program, but what it proposed to DBM is worth P35.97 billion.

Under the budget, at least P12.6 billion is allocated for the preparation of the 2016 presidential elections.

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