DBM cuts Comelec budget from P15.1 B to just P2.7 B

As the Commission on Elections (Comelec) prepares for next year’s barangay elections, the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) slashed its budget from P15.1 billion to P2.7 billion, or by 80 percent.

Virginia Folloso, DBM public information officer, said it was "common practice" among government offices to submit a proposed budget 10 times more than an agency actually needs.

The DBM disapproved the poll body’s request for a P1.1-million budget for next year’s youth council elections and trimmed down the budget for barangay elections from P2.1 billion to P900 million.

Congress may also postpone the barangay elections to 2005, a proposal which Comelec Chairman Alfredo Benipayo has openly supported.

The Comelec is also getting ready for elections in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM), which are scheduled in November.

Folloso said the Comelec requested last June 15 that the budget for its modernization program be "revised" as the poll body can operate on just P5.2 billion instead of P8.7 billion.

The Voters’ Registration and Identification System (VRIS) may not also be implemented following a cut in the modernization program’s budget.

Winning bidder Photokina Marketing Corp. and its American and French partners are asking for P6.5 billion to work on the VRIS project.

The project calls for the cleaning up of the computerized voters’ list and the issuance of voters’ identification cards to allow the smooth registration of voters.

Due to budget cuts, the poll body has put on hold the Automated Counting and Consolidation of Results Systems (ACCORS) and the precinct mapping project.