The Commission on Elections (Comelec) on Tuesday reported that PHP3 billion of the PHP19 billion budget for the Barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan Elections (BSKE) has been spent in line with ongoing preparations for the polls set on Nov. 2
“The BSKE budget is PHP19 billion. Comelec has already spent PHP3 billion since we started preparing, because we have already procured some materials. The remaining PHP16 billion is still with the DBM (Department of Budget and Management), not yet with the Comelec,” Comelec chairperson George Erwin Garcia said in an interview.
The poll body chief explained that the bulk of the budget is allocated to the honoraria of teachers who will be serving during the polls.
“65 percent of the budget for each election is for teachers’ honoraria. That will be spent later. We will continue to prepare, procure BSKE materials,” he said.
At the same time, he assured that no government funds would be wasted in case the polls are postponed.
“After all, for example, if the 90 million ballots for BSKE are printed, Comelec will simply issue a resolution that whatever date is written on the ballot, it will still be used in the reset election. Nothing will be wasted,” Garcia said.
“The new yellow ballot boxes that we’ve ordered, we will still be able to use them when the elections are held. That means, there is nothing to be wasted in Comelec’s preparations,” he added.
Asked if the holding of the BSKE will conflict with the preparations for the May 2028 presidential elections, the Comelec chief said, “Just don’t go beyond May 2027. We hope that they will give us June 2027 onwards for our preparations for the automated National and Local Elections (NLE).”
“It seems it would be possible if (until) May 2027. We are not here to object. But we are also not here to stop our preparations because the law states that there has to be an election on November 2,” he explained.
Sen. Panfilo Lacson earlier proposed to realign BSKE funds to address the effects of oil price volatility triggered by the Middle East conflict. (PNA)