MALACAÑANG maintained on Wednesday that the Commission on Elections has enough resources to proceed with automated elections in 2013.
Presidential Spokesperson Edwin Lacierda said the election-governing body can tap into its vast savings to augment its regular budget and hold the automated counting of election returns in next year’s midterm elections.
“I think Comelec should look into their savings. I think they have substantial savings in their budget,” Lacierda said.
He added that during his discussion with Budget Secretary Florencio Abad on the issue recently, the Budget Chief informed him that Comelec had ample savings.
“They have enough savings. That should not be a problem. The automated elections (in 2013) will continue,” Lacierda said.
Comelec chairman Sixto Brillantes raised a howl over the drastic cut in budget allocation the Commission may receive in the 2013 General Appropriations Act that was slashed from P24-billion to P8-billion.
Brillantes warned that with this cut, the Comelec may have to revert to manually counting ballots in next year’s elections. (PCOO)