Comelec: P12B in budget not for Cha-cha initiative

Orders probe on signature-buying

FACED with allegations from Albay Rep. Edcel Lagman, the Commission on Elections (Comelec) yesterday belied that the P12 billion additional budget given to the agency under the 2024 General Appropriations Act (GAA) is solely meant to fund the House of Representatives’ Charter change (Cha-cha) initiatives.

In an interview, Comelec chairman George Garcia said there is no truth to Lagman’s claim that the P12 billion added by lawmakers to the poll body’s budget during the bicameral discussions on the 2024 national budget was allocated to ensure that any move to change the 1987 Constitution will have the necessary budget.

Garcia said: “When it was allocated to us, there is no issue on the people’s initiative yet. It was given to us because we were asking them (Congress) to return the P17.4 billion that were taken away.”

“It is very presumptuous at this point (that it will be used for Cha-cha). To us, what is important is that our budget has been returned,” he added.

The poll chief said the P12 billion has a line item for recall, initiative, referendum, and other electoral activities.

However, he also admitted that the said allocation can be utilized for the proposed PI to amend the Constitution.

“We have to admit that it can be used for that (PI) since the item is for recall, initiatives, referendum, and other elections,” Garcia said, adding: “We can utilize that budget since we have that discretion being a constitutional body.”

“We can actually tap that as we were given a wide discretion on that item,” he said.

Meanwhile, Labor Secretary Bienvenido Laguesma yesterday scored allegations that the emergency employment program of the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) is now being used in the ongoing efforts to gather support for Cha-Cha initiatives.

In a television interview, Laguesma said it is unacceptable that the Tulong Panghanapbuhay sa Ating Disadvantaged/Displaced workers (TUPAD) is allegedly being used as an incentive to local government units (LGUs) that can help deliver the required number of signatures for the planned PI.

“TUPAD cannot be used as an incentive, as alleged, for those who will give their signatures. It is