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Manila Bulletin devider Philippines devider National devider Lente reaffirms position against the postponement of BSKE

Lente reaffirms position against the postponement of BSKE

Published Aug 24, 2022 02:37 pm

Poll watchdog Legal Network for Truthful Elections (Lente) remained keen in its position that the Barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan Elections (BSKE) initially slated for December should not be postponed.

Lente FB

In a statement, Lente stated that the senate hearing on Tuesday, Aug. 23 just reconfirms the lack of reason to postpone the BSKE. The Senate Committee on Electoral Reform and People's Participation held a Public Hearing to discuss issues on the postponement of the December 2022 BSKE.

The said hearing, according to Lente, mainly touched on the budget increase. Lente said that according to the Commission on Elections (Comelec), the postponement will result in an escalation of BSKE-related finances from P8.449B to P17B if the same is to be administered in May 2023; or, 18B if moved to December 2023.

This budget increase puts in a lot of factors requiring more funds, such as an additional three to five million voters, creation of new precincts, procurement of new election paraphernalia, and an increase of the honorarium of electoral board members (EBS).

Meanwhile, Lente mentioned that Comelec assured its readiness in the event of Congress' disapproval of the postponement. Nonetheless, Sen. Imee Marcos and Comelec have both emphasized that in case of approval, the ideal date for BSKE is May 2023.

This is in line with various factors like summer break of voters, vacation, and community occasions, among others, which would most likely lead to a higher voter turnout.

"Overall, the hearing has accentuated two challenges that might arise from the BSKE postponement: (a) its major purpose to allocate budget to more important issue areas is undermined by the fact that more budget is necessary to account for the delay; and, (b) the remaining budget for the supposed 2022 BSKÉ cannot be reallocated to other government agencies," Lente said.

"Thus, a few members of the Senate Committee have reminded policy-makers to weigh the advantages of and opportunity costs in pushing for the BSKE postponement," it added.

Meanwhile, Lente stated that out of 350 comments made in response to the Facebook live of the Senate Committee on Electoral Reform and People's Participation, 4 percent of Facebook accounts favored postponing the BSKE, 19 percent supported holding the elections as scheduled, while 77 percent offered no response.

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