Wednesday, April 04, 2007 City allotted P5M for Comelec By Grace L. Plata
THE City Government of Davao has allotted P5 million as its assistance for the cash-strapped Commission on Elections (Comelec) to ensure that elections and vote counting in the city will be as fast and efficient as possible.
According to City Administrator Wendel Avisado, the said amount will go the wages of the staff who will be working overtime until the end of the counting and other mobility needs.
"Starting January of this year, the city has been slowly releasing the said funding," Avisado said.
However, he said the shortage of funds is just a part of the problem of the Comelec, a "supposedly independent constitutional commission."
"The nature and character of Comelec itself needs re-organization. It should be an administrative body, not as constitutional commission as it cannot hold elections without a budget of its own. Thus, it is not independent as it has some sort of dependence on local government units," Avisado said.
But Avisado said the commission and its staff could hardly be blamed for the inability to function fully.
"(It has) only two divisions, which can hardly cope with the bulk of the work added with having to deal with election contests in different areas," he said.
The city official added that with the tendency to be swamped with various cases, Comelec is not able to resolve it in time.
"Come the next elections, the cases have not yet been resolved," Avisado said.
With the absence of an independent body who will screen potential Comelec commissioners and members, the commission is also subservient to the appointing authority -- another dent to its supposed independence, he said.
"Issues have to be resolved especially with the enforcement aspect, which is sourly lacking," Avisado said. "Without the right kind of policies and the people to enforce them, we will fail to see the right kind of results that we need."
