COMELEC ‘OKEY’ SA POSTPONEMENT NG BSKE, PERO HUMIRIT NG P10.8B DAGDAG NA PONDO!

SINUSUPORTAHAN ni Commission on Elections (Comelec) chairman George Garcia ang pagpaliban sa Barangay at Sanggunian Kabataan Elections (BSKE) na nakatakda ng December 5, 2022.

Sa pagdinig ng Committee on Appropriations ng House of Representatives nitong Biyernes, sinabi ni Garcia na kakailanganin ng Comelec ng at least P10.858 billion kapag ang BSKE ay gaganapin sa December 2023 at at least P9.5 billion kapag ginawa ng mas maaga ng May 2023.

“In the event the postponement will happen and the event Congress will determine that the postponement will be held by May 2023, we will be needing P17,093,550 or there is a deficiency of P9,510,204. However, if the event that the election will be postponed and reset to December 2023, we will be needing P18,441,376 or a deficiency of P10,858,030,” sabi ni Garcia.

Sinabi ni Garcia na sa P8,441,281 budget allocation ng Comelec para sa December 2022 BSKE, may P7,587,346 pang natitira.

Kinumpirma naman ni Perpetual Judea Quiazon, kinatawan ng Department of Budget and Management (DBM), na ang postponement ng BSKE ay mangangailangan ng karagdagang pondo para sa establishments ng mga bagong precinct, karagdagang poll workers, at logistics.

“In the absence of additional revenue measures to fund the significant budgetary implication of the postponement of the barangay and SK elections, it would be very difficult for the national government to fund the requirement for the implementation of the bill which will put further pressure on the tight fiscal space and we have to compete to the other urgent priority projects of the government,” paliwanag ni Quiazon.

Siniguro naman ni Albay Representative Edcel Lagman na kokontrahin niya ang postponement ng barangay at SK elections.