Comelec asking additional P9-B for 2026 barangay, SK polls

Commission on Elections Chairman George Erwin Garcia (Photo from Comelec/Facebook)

MANILA, Philippines — The Commission on Elections is seeking up to P9 billion in additional funds for the 2026 barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan elections to cover the honoraria of teachers and expenses for new voters, Comelec Chairman George Erwin Garcia told lawmakers on Monday. .

During the committee on appropriations hearing, Garcia stated that the P9 billion deficit would be added to the P10 Billion budget for the barangay and SK elections which will be carried over for the polls in November 2026.

“We will submit to the committee the exact computation […] pag po may honoraria yung teachers na dagdag aabutin po ng mga P9 billion, yun po yung i-add sa ating continuing appropriation,” Garcia said.

(If teachers have additional honoraria, it will cost about P9 billion, and that will be added to our continuing appropriation.)

Garcia explained that the P2,000 across-the-board increase in honoraria for teachers and poll workers granted during this year’s midterm elections was not included in the approved budget for the barangay and SK elections.

Garcia said that without the honoraria, Comelec would still need P6 billion more to cover the projected four million new voters.

Last month, President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. signed Republic Act No. 12232, postponing the Dec. 1, 2025, barangay and SK elections to Nov. 2, 2026 — which falls on All Souls’ Day — to allow the government to focus on the first parliamentary elections in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao.

The law also reset the regular barangay and SK elections to every four years and extended the terms of barangay and SK officials to four years, from the current three years under the Local Government Code of 1991. /gsg