The Commission on Elections (Comelec) has called on Congress to speed
up the passage of a measure which will defer the upcoming Sangguniang
Kabataan (SK) elections to spare the poll body from additional expenses.
Comelec Commissioner Lucenito Tagle issued the appeal as they remain
hesitant in finalizing the preparations for the scheduled SK polls on
February 21, 2015 as Congress continues its plenary hearings for House
Bill 5209.
House Bill 5209, which will reset the date of the SK elections so it
will coincide with the next national elections in 2016, has reached the
third and final hearing in Congress last week.
“We are already making the preparations (for the SK elections) by
getting some of the necessary supplies. But the money, which we will
release will be wasted if the election will be postponed,” Tagle said.
With only a few months before the SK polls, Comelec-Bids and Awards
Committee has recently began the public bidding for the supplies of
election materials, which will be used for the SK elections ranging from
ballpoint pens to election forms with a total estimated value of around
P37 million.
It will also allocate around P13.3 million for the delivery of these
of election paraphernalia to its various polling precincts nationwide.
Comelec, however, has not yet announced any winning bidders for the said projects.
Tagle said Comelec has around P300 to P400 million budget to hold the
SK elections, which will cover 43,000 clustered precincts with 2.6
million registered voters.
Comelec has been pushing for the postponement of the SK elections to
allow it to focus its attention and resources in holding the 2016
national elections.
Some sectors and groups on the other hand have been pushing for the outright abolition of the Sangguniang Kabataan.
