DBM chided for nixing Comelec’s proposed budget for OAV
A lawmaker on Thursday chided the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) for supposedly failing to allocate any amount to the Commission on Elections (Comelec) for overseas voting in the proposed 2015 national budget.
Akbayan party-list Rep. Walden Bello, chairman of the House committee on overseas workers affairs, told DBM Assistant Director Mary Ann Dela Vega to tell Budget Secretary Butch Abad that he "won't rest" until DBM restores the Comelec's P89.6-million proposed budget for overseas voting in the 2015 national expenditure program.
"This isn't a threat. We hope [DBM] respects the sanctity of the electoral process. This is what's at stake here," Bello said.
Dela Vega explained that the DBM did not allocate any amount for the Comelec's overseas absentee voting program because the budget will come from the poll body's savings.
She also said that a separate budget for OAV has also been allotted under the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA), which has earlier said it wants to double the number of overseas voters for the 2016 polls.
Based on government records, there are 737,759 registered overseas voters worldwide, excluding the 238,557 voters who were supposed to be delisted for failing to vote during the 2007 and 2010 elections. They were eventually reinstated by the poll body.
Should the overseas absentee voting program receive no allocation at all in the 2015 national budget, Comelec chairman Sixto Brillantes Jr. said the poll body will be forced to fund it using its savings.
The Comelec is also mulling realigning funds from some of its projects to the overseas absentee voting program if it receives no budget at all, he added.
"'Yung savings namin, naka-budget na rin 'yun in preparation for the 2016 elections. We're trying to look for ways within [the agency] to fund the overseas absentee voting program," Brillantes said. —KBK, GMA News
Akbayan party-list Rep. Walden Bello, chairman of the House committee on overseas workers affairs, told DBM Assistant Director Mary Ann Dela Vega to tell Budget Secretary Butch Abad that he "won't rest" until DBM restores the Comelec's P89.6-million proposed budget for overseas voting in the 2015 national expenditure program.
"This isn't a threat. We hope [DBM] respects the sanctity of the electoral process. This is what's at stake here," Bello said.
Dela Vega explained that the DBM did not allocate any amount for the Comelec's overseas absentee voting program because the budget will come from the poll body's savings.
She also said that a separate budget for OAV has also been allotted under the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA), which has earlier said it wants to double the number of overseas voters for the 2016 polls.
Based on government records, there are 737,759 registered overseas voters worldwide, excluding the 238,557 voters who were supposed to be delisted for failing to vote during the 2007 and 2010 elections. They were eventually reinstated by the poll body.
Should the overseas absentee voting program receive no allocation at all in the 2015 national budget, Comelec chairman Sixto Brillantes Jr. said the poll body will be forced to fund it using its savings.
The Comelec is also mulling realigning funds from some of its projects to the overseas absentee voting program if it receives no budget at all, he added.
"'Yung savings namin, naka-budget na rin 'yun in preparation for the 2016 elections. We're trying to look for ways within [the agency] to fund the overseas absentee voting program," Brillantes said. —KBK, GMA News
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