PROMDI presidential candidate Senator Manny Pacquiao said he supports the proposal calling for the postponement of barangay elections this December and realign the P8-billion budget for it instead to fund the government’s Covid-19 response and economic recovery efforts.
In a press briefing in Tarlac City, Pacquiao underscored the need to defer the barangay polls which he noted would be conducted barely seven months after Filipinos voted for the next leaders of the nation.
The standard bearer of the Partido ng Demokratikong Pilipino-Laban (PDP-Laban) said the country has not yet totally recovered from the negative effects of the pandemic and the government will incur huge expenses from the May 2022 elections.
“Nasa period pa tayo ng recovery. Hindi pa tayo nakaka-recover. Sayang naman iyong more or less P8 billion na gagastusin natin sa barangay elections (We are still in the period of recovery. We have yet to recover. The P8-billion would go to waste if it would be spent for the barangay elections),” Pacquaio stated.
The Commission on Elections (Comelec) will receive P26.69-billion total budget allocation in preparation for the holding of the national and barangay elections within the year in 2022.
Pacquaio said the P8-billion budget for the barangay elections will go a long way in distributing cash aid to Filipinos who suffered the most as a result of the pandemic.
“Mabuti pa siguro iyong P8 billion... malaking halaga iyan eh, ituon natin para sa ayuda, para makabangon muli ang ating mga kababayan na talagang nahirapan sa pandemic (I think that it would be better for the P8-billion be diverted to cash aid, because that’s a huge amount, so we can help our people who were affected by the pandemic much better),” he said.