ZAMBOANGA CITY, Philippines – The Commission on Elections (Comelec) disclosed on Saturday, January 21, that its readjusted budget for the conduct of the long-delayed barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan elections will not provide for an increase in the honoraria of electoral boards.

The poll body said it received from Congress only around P2.7 billion, on top of the P8.4 billion it originally had to mount the electoral exercise now set on October 30, 2023.

The additional funding is significantly smaller than the P10 billion that the Comelec had said it needed in order to pay for the additional costs incurred by the rescheduling of the polls from December 2022.

“We originally wanted to request that the honoraria of teachers be raised, but because of budget constraints, we decided to set a fixed amount of their pay: P6,000 for the electoral board chairmen, P5,000 for electoral board members, and P4,000 for other precinct workers,” Comelec Chairman George Garcia said in an ambush interview in Tawi-Tawi on Saturday, January 21.

“But when a budget hearing commences in Congress, who knows, maybe they will allot additional compensation for electoral board members, or our teachers,” Garcia added.

When Garcia told the upper chamber in October 2022 that postponing the polls by another year would incur P10 billion in additional expenses, Senate electoral reforms panel chairperson Imee Marcos called the estimate “outrageous.”

In the 2022 elections, teachers’ groups decried that they were not exempted from paying a 20% withholding tax on their honoraria and allowances, resulting in a deduction from their take-home pay.

The barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan elections have been postponed four times: the first three times under the Duterte administration, and the most recent postponement under the Marcos administration.

But Garcia said he has no doubt that the October elections will finally push through.

There have been 1.024 million new voter applicants since the Comelec resumed registration in December 2022. It projects to hit 1.5 million before the January 31 deadline.

Garcia’s trip to Tawi-Tawi on Saturday was the first time in seven years that a poll chief set foot in the far-flung province, according to Comelec spokesman Rex Laudiangco. His visit included meetings with local election workers, and observation of voter registration activities.

He is also set to visit Jolo, Sulu, on Sunday, January 22, for a similar agenda.

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– Rappler.com

* All quotes in Filipino were translated into English and shortened for brevity.