Comelec: Fund deficit for barangay, SK polls P3 billion in 2025, P6 billion by 2026

The Commission on Elections will need at least P3 billion more if the Barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan Elections are held in December this year, a deficit that will climb to P6 billion to P9 billion if the manually conducted BSKE are postponed to 2026, Comelec said Monday.

Comelec Chairman George Garcia made the disclosure during the House Appropriations committee's deliberations on the poll body’s proposed P11.5-billion budget for 2026 when asked if Comelec remains ready to hold the BSKE this year if the Supreme Court decides that the law postponing them is illegal.

The Supreme Court has ordered the consolidation of petitions to postpone the BSKE.

Garcia said that as it stands, the Comelec only has a P10-billion continuing appropriations budget for the conduct of the BSKE, which was last conducted in October 2023. 

“Hindi po namin itinigil ‘yung lahat ng preparasyon tutal naman po,’ yung lahat ng gagamitin ay magagamit din sa susunod na eleksyon. Yung bagong 60,000 ballot boxes na inorder namin, magagamit pa rin. Kung mag-print kami [ng balota], hindi na rin po maapektuhan. Kaya lang po, hindi po naka-factor in sa [budget para sa] December 1, 2025 elections iyong bagong dagdag na 2.8 million na botante na nagparehistro mula August 1 to August 10,” Garcia said.

(We never stopped preparing because what we have at hand can still be used next year: the 60,000 new ballot boxes, the printed ballots, and the like. But our budget does not include the 2.8 million new voters who registered from August 1 to 10.) 

“Kailangan po namin ng additional na P3 billion,” Garcia added.

(We need an additional P3 billion if the BSKE are held this year.)

Garcia said that the budget deficit for the conduct of the BSKE will balloon to P9 billion if they are postponed to November 2026 as provided under the law signed by President Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos, Jr., the same law whose legality is now being questioned before the High Court.

“If BSKE will be held in 2026, we anticipate 1.2 million more new voters who will register from July to October next year. That will increase the total of new registered voters to as much as four million. With that additional four million voters and without additional honoraria for teachers who serve as electoral board members, we would need additional P6 billion. If we will factor in additional honoraria for teachers and additional support staff, we would need an additional P9 billion,” Garcia said.

As a remedy, Garcia said that the additional P3 billion requirement if the BSKE will push through this year can be filled with the Comelec asking for the budget from the President’s contingent fund, just like what happened in 2023 when the Comelec had to conduct the BSKE after the High Court declared the law postponing the BKSE unconstitutional.

Garcia, however, said such an option won’t be viable if the deficit will reach P6 to 9 billion.

“Wala sa budget sa kasalukuyan. ‘Yung po nasa budget namin [for 2026] ay preparatory, national, and local sana para sa 2028. Wala pa po kami talaga pagkukuhanan ng BSKE except po yung naka-continuing appropriation na pang-December [2025],” Garcia said.

(This is not in our budget. Our 2026 budget is preparatory for the conduct of the 2028 national elections. We don't have a funding source for BSKE except for the continuing appropriation for supposedly BSKE for December 2025.)

“But what we are talking about right now is the budget for 2026. Therefore, kung wala pong budget [for BKSE] rito sa 2026 na maipapasa ng Kongreso, wala po kaming mapagkukunan ng dagdag na budget,” Garcia added.

(If we won't have a budget for this for 2026, we don't have anywhere else to get funding from.) — BM, GMA Integrated News