MANILA — The Commission on Elections (Comelec) has so far spent about PHP39 million in preparation for the October 23 barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan (SK) elections.
Comelec Spokesperson James Jimenez said the expenses they have incurred include the printing of the ballots, which is now at 13 million, and other activities related to the polls.
“The expenses are spread out over a variety of activities but I think it will give you an indication of how much we spent when I point out the cost per ballot is three pesos. So if you are already at 13 million ballots, then you are looking at three pesos per ballot that would be 39 million pesos spent,” he explained.
“That’s just on ballots. We are also spending for setting up of trainings of Board of Election Tellers (BETs), Barangay Boards of Canvassers (BBOC) may expense din yan. We are also getting ready for refurbishing ballot boxes. So getting ready to print other forms…Election returns, remember mano-mano ang bilangan, tally sheet. So at the very least pinaka-small estimate natin is Php39 million.”
Jimenez said the ballots to be printed are only for Luzon, Visayas and National Capital Region (NCR) since they suspended scheduled polls in Mindanao as it is still under Martial Law until the end of the year.
With this, he reported that they expect to print two million ballots this week.
“As of last report to us, we have already more than 13 million ballots. Remember that we are not printing ballots for Mindanao anymore, so Luzon and Visayas and NCR and we printed 13 million. And we are approaching the capacity of two million ballots per day. That will happen anytime this week,” the poll body official said.
Jimenez has reiterated call for lawmakers to make a final decision and pass a law if there will be postponement of the village and youth polls.
Last week, members of the House of Representatives approved on third and final reading the bill to postpone the village and youth elections to May 2018.
But, the Senate has yet to pass its version. The senators want to move it to October 2018. | PNA
