By YVONNE T. CHUA
THE Commission on Elections needed P14 billion for its operations this year, but the amount was reduced to only about one-third or P5.4 billion, after the Department of Budget and Management and the Office of the President finished reviewing its proposed budget.
And since 1986, the Comelec has practically been indebted to local governments which provide “suitable” office space to house provincial election supervisors and election registrars. In places where local governments cannot provide the space, the poll body leases office space elsewhere and charges the rental to the local governments.
These are only two of the budgetary issues that show how the Comelec, a constitutional body that supposedly enjoys fiscal autonomy, is put at the mercy of the executive department and local governments, a recent study of the Ateneo School of Government found. The nine-month study conducted by the Ateneo’s Government Watch or G-watch project said money matters and logistics “compromise” the poll body’s independence.
The study’s findings were presented Wednesday to representatives from Comelec, other government agencies, civil society and the media in a bid to help “build the house of good governance in Comelec.”
The 1987 Constitution guarantees constitutional commissions, including the Comelec, fiscal autonomy. But in reality, it is the DBM that wields power over the budgets of not only regular government agencies but also constitutional bodies, said Joy Aceron and Diega Villanueva of G-Watch.
By “arbitrarily” cutting the Comelec budget, it is the DBM, and not the Comelec, that sets the priorities of the electoral body, they said.
Ramon Casiple, chair of the Consortium on Electoral Reform and one of the reactors to the study, said the DBM derives its power from the 1987 Administrative Code which, he said, makes no distinction between regular agencies and constitutional commissions and, consequently, disregards the commissions’ constitutionally guaranteed fiscal autonomy.
“The DBM should have no hand in the budgets of constitutional commissions, the Supreme Court, Congress” to ensure checks and balances, he said.
He also said the DBM uses its extraordinary power—through the Special Allotment Release Orders or SAROs it issues—to delay releases of funds to agencies.
Aceron and Villanueva said it was the Omnibus Election Code that took effect in December 1985 which mandated local governments to provide office space to Comelec field offices.
The provision, they said, has at times resulted in ridiculous arrangements, including one Comelec field office located right inside the mayor’s office.
During barangay elections, the Omnibus Election Code requires local government to share with the Comelec the expenses in conducting the polls.
The G-Watch study found that some local governments even provide funding to Comelec field offices to hire casuals. One local government went to the extent of including an item for the Comelec in its budget.
Because they pay the bills, a number of local governments are known to pack Comelec field offices with friends and relatives, the study said.
The study raised serious concern over the use of LGU funds for Comelec field operations. “The relationship with LGUs compromises Comelec independence,” Aceron said.
She also noted, “Local operations seem detached from national. Kanya-kanyang diskarte (To each his own).”
Casiple said it was time to set aside the provisions in the Omnibus Election Code tapping local governments to support Comelec operations. He said the system favors the incumbents “who want to be reelected at all costs.”
Casiple said the Comelec should be given the power over its own budget big enough to, among others, build its own office and raise employees’ salaries.
Located on a leased property in Intramuros, Manila, the Comelec central office is the only constitutional commission without its own building. It spends P2 million a month in renting its office and warehouses.
Casiple said the power to appoint the Comelec commissioners should also be wrested from the president. He likewise called for a halt to the practice of getting endorsements from politicians for appointments to the Comelec. The practice began during the time of Comelec Chairman Bernardo Pardo.
“We need to restore the Comelec to (being) nonpartisan,” Casiple said.
Former Commissioner Mehol Sadain, who also gave his reactions to the G-Watch study, said Comelec commissioners should be chosen long before elections are held.
“It is difficult to have commissioners appointed in an election year,” he said. When they are not confirmed by the Commission on Appointments, they become vulnerable to political pressures, he added.
Esmeralda A. Ladra, Comelec Planning Department director, said many in Comelec prefer that a body akin to the Judicial and Bar Council be created to shortlist candidates for commissioners. She also said the Comelec commissioners should not undergo confirmation hearings.
Instead of relying on local governments to set aside office space or money for Comelec, Ladra proposed that a percentage of the internal revenue allotment be earmarked for the commission’s field offices.
Comelec Commissioner Rene Sarmiento suggested the creation of electoral courts to relieve the commission of its quasi-judicial functions.
Additional pressure comes from congressmen, senators and other politicians following up electoral cases filed in the Comelec, even those related to barangay elections, he said.