Extra day of voting to cost P2 billion – Recto

MANILA, Philippines  — An extra day of voting in the May 2022 presidential elections will cost at least P2 billion, twice the initial estimate of the Commission on Elections (Comelec), Senate President Pro Tempore Ralph Recto said yesterday.

The senator issued the statement following suggestions from Comelec officials to hold the election for two to three days to minimize crowding and allow the elderly and immuno-compromised people to vote with less risk amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

“If the virus will still linger by then, that casting the ballot becomes hazardous to one’s health, then adding another day of voting will cost an additional P2 billion to P2.5 billion,” Recto said.

His estimate is more than double the minimum P1 billion that Comelec officials told senators during Thursday’s hearing on the poll body’s P14.1-billion budget request for 2021.

Recto said Comelec’s plan to put up 110,000 clustered precincts in the 2022 polls, from 85,768 in the 2019 national elections, will incur about “P2.1 billion” in additional honoraria for teachers alone.

“If we simply double the 2019 honorarium rates of the three members of the Board of Election Inspectors or BEI, then that would be the cost,” he pointed out.

In the last elections, the BEI chair was paid an honorarium of P6,000 while the poll clerk and the third member received P5,000 each. Each was also given a travel allowance of P1,000 for a total expense of P19,000 per precinct.

“If you have to roll over the P19,000 per precinct and multiply this by 110,000, the cost will reach P2.1 billion,” Recto said.

Even if the second day rate would be just 50 percent of the first day rate, an additional P1 billion is needed, he said, adding that teachers in the BEIs account for only half of the personnel the Department of Education deploys during elections.

Other personnel, including policemen, are tapped by the Comelec for support and supervisory work, Recto added.

During the hearing, Sen. Risa Hontiveros sought an increase in Comelec’s budget to support its preparations for the 2022 presidential elections amid the pandemic.

“We don’t know when the vaccine would become available, that’s why Comelec’s budget is also a health concern leading up to 2022. We have to ensure the elections don’t become a super spreader for COVID-19 infections,” Hontiveros said.

“2021 will be our transition year into the new normal. We want to encourage as many people as possible to still go out, register and exercise their democratic right to vote, despite the extraordinary circumstances. We cannot allow COVID-19 to stand in the way of our democracy,” she added.

She pointed out that senior citizens, the most vulnerable sector to COVID-19, stand at around 9.1 million or approximately 14 percent of registered voters.

Hontiveros said the proposed hike should go to additional vote-counting machines (VCMs) to reduce the number of people allowed per clustered precinct and to make it easier for social distancing.

“We have to find the safest and most efficient option to retain the integrity of our elections. The pandemic should not become an opportunity to commit irregularities,” she added.

Comelec chairman Sheriff Abas said the poll body is likely going to use refurbished VCMs used in the last two elections instead of new ones after the Department of Budget of Management (DBM) slashed the poll body’s budget for 2021.

He said the DBM has cut its proposed P30 billion to less than half or P14.56 billion for approval by Congress.

“Unfortunately, our (budget request) was not granted so our fallback there is just refurbish the VCMs we used in the 2019 and 2016 (elections). We’ll make them like new,” Abas told the panel in mixed Filipino and English after Sen. Bong Revilla asked him about the implications of the huge budget cut.

“Of course, in terms of durability, new (VCMs) are better because 2022 is the presidential (elections). But in terms of functionality, they (new and refurbished) are almost the same,” he said.

The planned acquisition of new VCMs was meant to also address the expected increase in voters, or about 65.3 million in 2022, while reducing the number of voters per precinct to 800.

Comelec was asking for P7 billion for new VCMs but it is likely going to be left with just P1 billion for refurbishment of those in its inventory.