THE House Committee on Appropriations, chaired by Nueva Ecija Rep. Mikaela Angela Suansing, on Monday scrutinized the Commission on Elections’ (Comelec) proposed ₱11.848-billion budget for fiscal year 2026—₱6.221 billion lower than the original ₱18.069 billion submitted to the Department of Budget and Management (DBM).
Prior to the committee members’ queries on the proposed plans and programs of Comelec for next year, Suansing commended Comelec headed by Chairman George Erwin Garcia for the successful conduct of the national and local elections last May 12, 2025.
“These elections recorded an unprecedented voter turn out of 82.2 percent, the highest for a medium term election, with more than 57 million Filipinos casting their vote. The Comelec also implemented the fastest canvassing and proclamation in history, with the results confirmed to be 99.9 percent accurate. On the global stage, the Philippines was recognized as a pioneer in election automation and online voting. This underscores that Comelec’s innovations are not only improving Philippine elections but also gaining global acclaim, reinforcing the need to sustain direction through adequate budgetary support,” Suansing said.
In his presentation, Garcia said among the Comelec’s accomplishments is the consistently higher voter registration turnout. For instance, he said the Comelec recorded 2.48 million new voters in 10 days during the August 2025 registration. He said the poll body targets to enlist 1.5 million additional new voters when it resumes registration on the third week of October 2025 until July 2026.
Garcia also addressed questions on the Comelec’s preparations for two upcoming elections — the Barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan Elections (BSKE) originally set for Dec. 1, 2025 but was moved to Nov. 2, 2026 after the Supreme Court issued a temporary restraining order (TRO, and the Oct. 13, 2025 Bangsamoro first regular parliamentary elections.
Despite the postponement of the BSKE, he said the Comelec did not stop preparations for it. However, he said the problem is that there is no allocation for the Nov. 2, 2026 elections.
“The proposed budget that we are hearing on, ito po ay budget na wala yung postponement ng BSKE. Kung sakali po yung hawak namin na supposedly for Dec. 1 election yun po ay magiging continuing appropriation,” he said.
He also said that the Nov. 2 BSKE needs to consider the 4 million new voters which include the 2.48 million who registered last August and the 1.5 million expected registrants from Oct. 2025 until July 2026.
“Baka abutin tayo ng mga 71 million na botante by 2026. Presently we have 68,431,965 voters nationwide. Baka abutin tayo sa 2026 ng hanggang 71 million voters, yun po ay regular voters hindi pa po kasama ung SK kasi po separate po ang balota ng SK. Ang SK nag a-average ng 24 million to 25 million. Baka abutin tayo ng 101 million regular and SK voters,” he said.
Manila Rep. Rolando Valeriano queried on where the Comelec would get its budget for the BSKE next year. Garcia said they might request assistance from the executive department, recalling that in the 2023 elections, they were assisted through the President’s Contingency Fund.
Garcia expressed hope that the P6 billion slashed from their original budget proposal would be retained so they can also provide additional honoraria for teachers who will man the BSKE.
“We are hoping na mabigyan ng chance na maibalik sana po ung budget . And for your information un pong budget na napproved sa amin para sa Dec. 1 does not include additional honoraria for teachers.Tinanggal po kasi ng executive. Ibig sabihin po yung tinanggap ng mga guro natin nung national and local elections ng 2025 na may dagdag silang P2,000 ay wala po para sa BSKE,” he said.
On the other upcoming election, Garcia said the Comelec decided to proceed with the Oct. 13, 2025 Bangsamoro parliamentary elections after the Supreme Court ruled that Sulu is not part of Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM).
“Ang problem po natin sa Bangsamoro Organic Law, and as contained in the Electoral Code of the Bangsamoro, 80 po ang members ng parliament. Dahil ang Sulu ay tinanggal na bilang miyembro, ung pito ay kailangan sanang i-redistribute ng parliament sa anim na natitirang probinsiya. Kaya lang po ang problem, ang sinabi namin May 30 available yung law, dumating po ung June 30, July 15 hanggang yung last week po naghihintay ang Comelec. We cannot wait that long dahil ang election sa Bangsamoro ay automated din just like the national and local elections,” he said.
Moreover, Garcia said that if Comelec would wait for the reapportionment, it might take until Oct. 20 to distribute the ballot boxes and election paraphernalia per municipality.
“Oct. 13 and election sa Bangsamoro. So we decided to proceed with the election of the 73 (as) to our honest belief the 73 do not disenfranchise the remaining provinces. Tutal bago naman po nag-decision sa Sulu ay meron na pong representation ang bawat probinsiya. So we made a decision to proceed with the ballots and inspect them. The 2.25 million ballots that we are going to use in the Bangsamoro by Sept. 15 tapos na po namin yun,” Garcia said.
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