THE Commission on Elections (Comelec) on Monday said it will require at least P7 billion to hold the plebiscite for the newly enacted Bangsamoro Organic Law (BOL) and the proposed Charter change (Cha-cha).
During the budget hearing of the Ways and Means Committee of the House of Representatives, Comelec Chairman Sheriff Abas disclosed they will need at least P854 million for the BOL plebiscite.
He said the amount is based on the initial assessment of their Bangsamoro Committee headed by commissioner Al Parreño in the areas designated by the BOL.
Under the BOL, the Comelec will |conduct a plebiscite in Mindanao to determine other local government units which would like to be included in the Bangsa-moro Autonomous Region.
Abas said the budget for the BOL plebiscite is already included in their proposed 2019 budget, although not itemized. He said they expect to conduct the BOL referendum in December this year or January 2019.
When asked by ACT Teachers party-list Rep. Antonio L. Tinio about the funding for the possible referendum for Cha-cha, the poll chief said they will need between P6 billion and
P8 billion.
Abas said the exact amount will depend on the manner of how it will be conducted as stipulated in the final Cha-cha legislation.
He said requesting the budget for the Cha-cha plebiscite is premature, since approval of the new draft charter is still pending in Congress.
He pointed out, though, that he is confident the government has the “contingency fund” for it in case it will push through next year. In a referendum for Cha-cha, Filipinos will decide whether to ratify the proposed constitution that Congress will churn out, based on its deliberations on the draft produced by the Consultative Committee. Abas pointed out it will usually take the Comelec between four and five months to complete preparations for a referendum, which is usually conducted manually.
The Comelec will be seeking a P10-billion budget for 2019—significantly lower than its P16-billion budget this year. Of the 2019 budget proposal, P3.8 billion will be used for the salaries of the personal services; maintenance and other operating expenses; and capital outlay.
The bulk or P6.2 billion of the funds will be used for the projects of the Comelec, including its Overseas Absentee Voting program; conducting the national and local elections; and its information systems strategic plan.
The remaining P198,711,000 of the budget will be for Comelec’s “automatic appropriations.”