Senate subcommittee OKs Comelec budget for 2023

A Senate finance subcommittee on Thursday approved the proposed 2023 budget of the Commission on Elections (Comelec).

Senator Imee Marcos, who presided over the subpanel, moved to recommend the Comelec’s budget to the plenary. Senator Jinggoy Estrada seconded the motion.

On Monday, the subcommittee deferred the deliberations on the budget due to the poll body’s failure to submit necessary documents on several issues.

BSKE budget

Meanwhile, Comelec chairperson George Garcia said the poll body reduced its budget request for the barangay and Sanggunian Kabataan elections (BSKE) to P2.765 billion.

“Thank you very much to the subcommittee we were able to reduce the amount that we’ll be needing for the barangay and SK elections. We will be needing an additional P2.765 billion instead of the original P10 billion,” Garcia said.

However, when Garcia said they will recompute the proposal after Marcos expressed concerns about double counting.

“We will seriously consider that… we will recompute and we will be arriving at the final figure,” Garcia said.

Comelec previously said it needs an additional P10-billion budget should the BSKE elections be moved to 2023.

Last week, President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. signed into law the measure postponing the BSKE from December 2022 to October 2023.

This led veteran election lawyer Romulo Macalintal to file a petition urging the Supreme Court to order the Comelec and the Office of the President to cease and desist from implementing Republic Act 11935.

The Supreme Court set the oral arguments on the petition at 3 p.m. on Friday. —LBG, GMA News