Comelec needs P3.8B more for con-con

THE Commission on Elections (Comelec) will need an additional P3.827 billion to hold an election for constitutional convention (concon) delegates, Comelec Chairman George Garcia said on Tuesday, February 28.

The election of delegates is planned to be held simultaneously with the barangay and youth council polls on October 30.

Garcia told the House Committee on Appropriations the additional budget will fund the bigger honoraria being proposed for teachers who will be doing poll duty. He also said that 67 million ballots have to be printed for the election of con-con delegates.

Last week, the House Committee on Constitutional Amendments approved a Resolution of Both Houses (RBH) calling for a concon to amend or revise the 1987 Constitution.

If the House adopts the RBH, it must also be approved by the Senate.

Under a bill approved by the House constitutional amendments committee during a meeting on Monday, February 27, one delegate per legislative district shall be elected to the con-con. Sectoral representatives, who will make up 20 percent of the convention delegates, would be jointly appointed by the Senate president and the House speaker.

A con-con delegate must be a natural-born Filipino citizen, at least 25 years old on election day, a college degree holder, a registered voter in the concerned district, and a resident there for at least a year immediately preceding elction day.

A sectoral delegate must be a natural-born Filipino citizen and at least 25 years old on the day of his appointment.

The bill requires the con-con to have as delegates at least three retired members of the judiciary, two economists, two from the labor sector, two from the farmers and fisherfolk, two from indigenous cultural communities, and two from the senior citizens and persons with disabilities, among others.

During the constitutional amendments committee’s meeting on Monday, Cagayan de Oro Second District Rep. Rufus Rodriguez, the committee chairman, said “what is envisioned here is that there will be nominations from different sectors and then the nominations will be submitted to the speaker and submitted also to the Senate president, so that then each

Comelec Chairman George Erwin Garcia. ManilaTimes.net file photo one of them will consider the nominations and then they will have to meet and be able to have” a joint approval “on whom both of them will appoint.”

The delegates will serve from Nov. 21, 2023, to June 30, 2024. The convention will be held in the House session hall. It must submit its report to Congress and the Comelec within 30 days from completion of the consolidated amendments, or July 30, 2024.

The amendments to the Constitution proposed by the convention must be ratified by a majority of the votes cast in a plebiscite to be held within 90 days after the submission of the convention report. (ManilaTimes.net)