MANILA, Philippines – When fire hit the main office of the Commission on Elections (Comelec) at the Palacio del Gobernador in July, it exposed a problem that the national government had ignored for decades.
Why wouldn’t the poll body’s main office be a fire hazard? It’s crowded, rented, and worn-out.
In this Newsbreak Chats episode, Rappler multimedia reporter Dwight de Leon talks to managing editor Miriam Grace A. Go about his two-part series on the pitiful – scratch that: horrible – conditions of the offices housing the constitutional body that manages elections in the Philippines.
More than P9 billion is needed to build the Comelec headquarters that will give employees a decent space, properly store crucial election data and equipment, and – a concern that not publicly known – independence from the Office of the President.
The Comelec has been asking for its own place for 30 years. Yet for 2023, the executive branch is proposing only P500 million to jumpstart the project.
Why does the Comelec have to beg to have its own home?
Watch Newsbreak Chats on Thursday, September 8, at 4 pm. – Rappler.com
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