Commission on Elections (Comelec) Chairman George Erwin Garcia said on Thursday, September 14, that it would be difficult for them to prepare for the 2025 National and Local Elections (NLE) after their budget was trimmed down by P17.4 billion.
During budget deliberations of the Senate Committee on Finance chaired by Sen. Imee Marcos, Garcia said that under the National Expenditure Program (NEP) of the Department of Budget and Management (DBM), Comelec's proposed budget is P27.3 billion but he added that the poll body originally asked for P44.7 billion.
Under the NEP proposed budget, Garcia said that P22.9 billion will be allocated for the preparation of the 2025 midterm polls while only P4.6 billion will be spent for the poll body's regular programs.
"We were asking if we can just restore at least P5.7 billion so that the preparation for the NLE will not be sacrificed," Garcia said.
This budget that Comelec is asking to be restored, according to Garcia, includes the overtime pay of its workers, transportation of new machines, pilot testing of the ballots and other collaterals for the preparation.
Automated BSKE, two polls in 2025
However, the P22. 9 billion budget does not include preparations for the 2025 BSKE which the poll body is studying to automate as well. But this move was questioned by Senate Minority Leader Aquilino "Koko" Pimentel III.
Cavite Rep. Elpidio Barzaga, Jr. originally urged the House of Representatives to study the possibility of automating the October 30 BSKE, but Garcia said that it is unlikely. However, he said that it was an innovative idea.
Still, Comelec will be conducting a pilot test of automated BSKE in two barangays in Cavite which are Barangay Zone II Poblacion and Barangay Paliparan III in Dasmariñas City. The third barangay is Barangay Pasong Tamo in the sixth District of Quezon City.
Yet Pimentel said that Comelec might be getting sidetracked and should focus on the NLE.
"Why are we even exerting effort to na i-automate (to automate) BSKE? Why? Sayang lang effort niyo diyan dahil (It's a waste of effort because) number one di naman yan mandato ng batas (it's not mandated by the law), number two it's really going to be expensive," Pimentel said.
During the hearing, Pimentel also discovered that a single NLE costs between P43 to P44 billion.
It can be recalled that Comelec will be preparing for two elections in 2025: the Barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan Elections (BSKE) and the midterm polls.
If the BSKE will push through on Oct.30, the Supreme Court (SC) said that the next BSKE should be in December 2025 since it was supposed to be conducted in December 2022 after the SC declared unconstitutional the law postponing Dec. 5, 2022, BSKE
During the hearing, Garcia said that it is set to file a Motion for Reconsideration (MR) urging the SC to conduct the BSKE three years after the upcoming BSKE in October. Garcia said that the poll body will file an MR for the limited purpose of imploring the SC to revisit its ruling.
Marcos said that they were surprised by this decision, which according to her, was penned by former Comelec Commissioner now SC judge who she said opposed the idea of having two elections in a single year. Until now, Garcia said that they have not received the SC decision and they will have to push through with the Oct. 30 BSKE.
Meanwhile, due to the budget trim, Garcia said that there will be no budget for IT equipment and the construction of a local Comelec field office.