THE budget cut currently being faced by the Commission on Elections (Comelec) may pose as the foremost hurdle in plans to hold the May 2022 polls for several days instead of just one.
In a radio interview, Comelec spokesman James Jimenez said the budgetary problems the Commission will have to contend with next year will make it difficult to hold multi-day elections.
“One very obvious complication of a multi-day elections is you have to pay teachers for several days instead of one,” said Jimenez. “If it is two days, we have to double the honoraria. We are talking about at least 300,000 teachers. If we double the honoraria, we might not be able to afford that.”
Add to this, he said, the mandatory increase the Comelec will have to provide in the honoraria of teachers rendering election services.
Jimenez said they also have pending requests from the Department of Education for the provision of food and transportation allowance as well as hazard pays to teachers.
“This might eat up a large part of the budget because our budget is 64 percent less than the original,” said Jimenez.
The Department of Budget and Management has trimmed the proposed budget of the Comelec for 2022 to P26 billion from P42 billion.
Jimenez also cited the security concerns that will arise.
“There are many security issues because, obviously, the electors will be sleeping, we have to close the ballot boxes and the voting machines and we must secure them overnight,” said Jimenez.
Last Wednesday, National Task Force Against COVID-19 chief implementer Carlito Galvez Jr. floated the idea of holding elections for multiple days to prevent the poll exercise from turning into a superspreader event because voters will flock to election precincts.
The House committee on suffrage and electoral reforms yesterday adopted resolutions urging the Comelec to extend the voter registration deadline for a month.
The panel approved House Resolutions No. 2128 and 2139, seeking the extension of the deadline to October 31, 2021, even if the Comelec has already shot down calls for an extension beyond September 30 because it would cause a domino effect and delay preparations for the national elections.
The lawmakers noted that an estimated 13.1 million voters are in danger of being disenfranchised in the 2022 national elections because of the difficulties brought about by the pandemic.
“While we recognize Comelec’s need to have ample time to prepare the final list of voters, which is a prerequisite for the preparation and completion of the Project of Precincts (POP), the youth and the people believe that at least a month extension would not delay that much Comelec’s preparation of the POP,” the Makabayan bloc said.
They said the poll body must not settle with the current 60 million registered voters despite being shy of just 1 million from its target of 61 million for the 2022 elections.
The Makabayan lawmakers pointed out that the Comelec had already set deadlines before that were set on or even beyond October 31 of the year before elections: the national and local elections of the years 2001, 2004, 2007, 2010 and 2013.
The group is composed of Bayan Muna party-list Reps. Carlos Isagani Zarate, Eufemia Cullamat, and Ferdinand Gaite; Gabriela party-list Rep. Arlene Brosas; and ACT party-list Rep. France Castro; and Kabataan party-list Rep. Sarah Jane Elago. — With Wendell Vigilia
