THE House of Representatives on Wednesday finished the floor deliberations on the proposed 2024 budgets of the Commission on Elections (Comelec) and the Commission on the Filipino Language (CFL)
The Comelec headed by Chairman George Erwin Garcia proposed an original budget of P43.7 billion, but was allocated with P27.2-billion only under the National Expenditure Program (NEP).
The 2024 proposed P129-million budget of the Commission on the Filipino Language chaired by Dr. Arthur Casanova, Ph.D. was likewise cut to P73.3-million under the NEP.
Committee on Appropriations Vice Chairman and Comelec budget sponsor Rep. Francisco Jose “Bingo” II Matugas II, CPA, CESO, LLB (1st District, Surigao del Norte), urged his fellows, “I hope that you will support the request of the Comelec to give it the proper budget to prepare for the 2025 elections.”
He noted that the Comelec’s 2024 allocation under the NEP is 38 percent lower than the agency’s original proposal, which has implications on 1) internet voting for Filipinos overseas, 2) deployment of election machines and equipment, and 3) overtime pay for staff who will be preparing for the 2025 elections, among others.
Aside from the national and local elections in May 2025, the Barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan elections (BSKE) will also be held in December 2025.
In his interpellation, Rep. JC Abalos (Party-list, 4Ps) lauded the Comelec’s decision to raise the honoraria of teachers who will assist in the 2023 BSKE, asking if the Comelec has asked the Bureau of Internal Revenue if the teachers’ honoraria may be tax-exempt.
Rep. Matugas replied that, while Comelec chairman Garcia actually aspires to exempt said honoraria, the National Internal Revenue Code does not allow such exemption.
“The only way to alleviate the situation of our teachers and volunteers is to raise their honoraria from a meager amount of P6,000 to P10,000,” he said.
Matugas also assured Rep. Raoul Danniel Manuel (Party-list, Kabataan) that the Comelec has not been disregarding the issues raised against the automated elections system. “Magiging bago na po ang sistema sa 2025 elections as there will no longer be transparency servers para wala na po ung issue sa IP address. From precinct, the election results will go directly to the main server,” he said.
