Comelec eyes P20 billion budget for 2013 midterm elections

MANILA, Philippines — The Commission on Elections (Comelec) is eyeing as much as P20 billion budget for the 2013 midterm elections, an amount that caught senators by surprise during a Senate hearing on Monday.

Elections commissioner Rene Sarmiento told the Senate committee on local government that Comelec might spend from P15 billion to P20 billion for the 2013 polls, not included the village and youth council elections.

“The estimate your honor is P15 billion to P20 billion,” said Sarmiento.

“Are you serious? Ang laki (That’s too much),” exclaimed Senator Ferdinand “Bong-Bong” Marcos Jr., chairman of the committee.

“We managed it with P11.3 billion in May and P11.3 billion included the buying of the machines and the training of the people which we will no longer have to do the leasing of the machines and the training of the people...” he pointed out.

But elections commissioner Gregorio Larrazabal said the amount was bigger than that of the last May presidential elections because of the expected higher cost of machines that will be used in 2013.

In the last elections, Larrazabal said the contract design was a lease “with an option to purchase.”

And for the lease of the machines alone, he said, the government spent P7.3 billion.

“But if you avail the option to purchase t after the elections, you add P2 billion,” he pointed out.

The P7.3 billion figure, however, was just a marked down compared to the actual cost, said Larrazabal.

‘They submitted the bid based on the opportunity to use it as a showcase for other countries. In fact, the world now is a showcase for automated elections. That’s why the cost actually is a little bit higher in 2013,” he further explained.

Still, Senate President Juan Ponce-Enrile believes the budget for the 2013 elections was “exorbitant.”

Even if the Comelec holds a synchronized election in 2013, Enrile said the same manpower would be used in the national and barangay (village) elections.

Elections chairman Jose Melo promised the senators to provide them the figures that would show how they would spend the money but assured them that they would not be spending so much as they did the last time on voters education.

Source: Inquirer