If the December 2022 Barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan Elections (BKSE) were to be postponed, the Commission on Elections (Comelec) has two separate budgetary requirements for two different dates: P9,500,000,000 for May 2023; and P10,858,030,000 for December 2023.

Comelec Chairman George Garcia revealed this to the House Committee on Appropriations during a hearing on Friday, Sept. 9, on the proposed postponement of the December 2022 BKSE.

The panel asked the Comelec would in terms of budget it would need if the elections were either moved to May 2023 or December 2023.

“We will be needing P17,093,550,000 for May 2023. P7.5 billion that we have right now so we have still a deficiency of P9.5 billion,” Garcia said on Sept. 9.

“, P18,441,376,000, less P7.5 billion that we have right now, then we still have a deficiency of P10,858,030,000,” added the Comelec chairman.

The Comelec has about P7.5 billion in reserve funds, plus the P1.05 billion left over from the 2022 national and local elections. Garcia also said that they have P421 million in savings.

He was then asked how the Comelec came up with the proposed values.

“When we submitted to the Committee on Suffrage and Electoral Reforms our computation, in summary, kapag po tayo ay nag reset ng (if we reset the) election on Dec. 5, 2022, magsisimula po kami ng aming (we will start) continuing registration by October of this year. Kung May of 2023, we will be conducting registration from October to December. Ang projection ng Philippine Statistics Authority that we agree with based on our projection na hindi po nagparehistro ay (that have not registered yet are) three million voters,” he began.

“If we are going to reset the election by December 2023, we will have to have our continuing registration from October of this year to June of next year...Therefore, our projection namin yung mga 14-years-old na mag 15 na at ang mga hindi pa nakapag rehistro na kababayan natin, ay mahigit po limang million po (of 14-year-olds who will turn 15 and those have not yet registered, it should be almost five million),” Garcia said.

“Kung magkakaganun po na December 2023, tataas po ang bilang na presinto. Sa kasalukuyan po ay meron tayong 207,000 precincts. Kung tayo po ay magrereset ng December, from 207,000 magiging 239,000 precincts po (If we move the elections to December 2023, we will need more precincts. We now have 207,000. This would go from 207,000 to 239,000),” Garcia explained.

On top of the increase in polling precincts, Garcia added that the Comelec would need to hire an extra 333,212 poll workers to operate these facilities, all of whom are entitled to honoraria worth P10,000, P9,000, or P6,000 depending on their duty classification.

Isabela 1st district Rep. Tonypet Albano then asked if Garcia himself was in favor of deferred the BSKE.

“We should postpone to allow more voters to vote and more voters to choose their leaders for the SK and Barangay Elections,” he told the House panel

Meanwhile, it was also during this hearing that the House panel approved a consolidated measure that seeks the postponement of the December 2022 BSKEs, although the measure does not specify a new date.