The House of Representatives Committee on Appropriations has committed to restore the P3 billion budget cuts to Commission on Election’s (Comelec) proposed P49.748 billion budget proposal as it gears up for next year’s elections.
This as Comelec chairperson George Erwin Garcia during the budget hearing at the House described 2025 as a “super election” year, with the proposed budget covering the automated midterm National and Local Elections (NLE), the firs
Bangsamoro Parliamentary Election (BPE), and the manual Barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan Elections (BSKE) to follow five months later.
“It’s a big thing that we lost P3 billion for the national and local elections because that included your Honors, the training of our more than 300,000 teachers that will be used in the upcoming 2025 elections,” Garcia said.
The BPE is where 80 members of parliament will be elected in accordance with the peace process commitment and with Republic Act 11054 or the Organic Law for the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM)
Under the National Expenditure Program (NEP) for 2025, Comelec will only receive P35.47 billion, P14.95 billion of which is allocated for the midterm elections and P11.59 billion for the BSKE.
“By May 12, 2025 we are going to conduct the national and local elections, senators down to the last councilor, involving 18,200 positions,” Garcia stated.
The poll body proposed P18.02 billion for the said elections.
Due to the constraints imposed by the NEP budget, Comelec decided to operate with around 104,000 machines and precincts, instead of the 128,000 initially planned for the 2025 elections.
Garcia nonetheless thanked President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. for retaining the requested increase in honoraria for teachers serving on election day and for allowing support staff at each precinct.
Lanao del Sur Rep. Zia Alonto Adiong expressed dissatisfaction with the P14 billion budget cut from Comelec’s request, noting that the reduction affects crucial services, such as voter education, teacher training, and the BARMM elections.
