Additional poll funds needed in Cebu City

CEBU CITY, Philippines – The Commission on Election (Comelec) Cebu City is asking the Cebu City Government for an additional P5.7 million to cover the honoraria, meals, and transportation allowances of those who will be serving during the May 9 polls.

In a letter dated May 3, North District Election Officer Edwin Cadungog and South District Election Officer Michael Sarno asked Councilor Margarita Osmeña to sponsor a resolution for the additional expenses that will be incurred.

Of the P5.7 million, P3.7 million is intended for the honoraria, meals, and transportation allowance of 2,311 board of election inspectors (BEI) while some P1.05 is intended for 1,054 support staff of the BEIs.

BEIs will get P1,500 each while the support staff will get P1,000 each.

Release date

Some 420,000 out of the total amount requested by Comelec Cebu City will also cover the P3,000 honoraria, meals and transportation allowance of each of the 104 supervisors of the Department of Education (DepEd) and 36 members of the manual audit team.

Supports staff of the supervisors will also get P1,000 honoraria each, including the special BEIs support staff. Special BEIs for the detainee voting will also get P1,500.

A total of P192,000 is also intended to cover the P6,000 honoraria each of the 32 members of the Task Force DepEd.

“To avoid the appearance of any partisan color, the undersigned with all due respect would like to suggest that the above proposed honoraria will be released only after the May 9, 2016 National, Local and ARMM Elections,” read a portion of the letter.

In an interview, Osmeña, who chairs the council’s committee on budget and finance, said she was just waiting for Comelec’s budget proposal.

Funding source

City Treasurer Diwa Cuevas said poll honoraria of the BEIs were supposedly included in the P40-million election reserve this year, but the annual budget had been revised and returned to the City Council for deliberation.

While deliberation is pending, Cuevas said the additional request for honoraria from Comelec can be charged to the City-Sponsored Activities.

Earlier, the council also approved a P15.8-million budget for election expenses, which was used for the retraining of BEIs, training of the third member of every clustered precinct and purchase of supplies.

The city has 837 clustered precincts. – Rappler.com

This article is republished under Rappler’s content sharing agreement with the SunStar network in the coverage of the 2016 national and local elections.