(Eagle News)—Senator Leila de Lima has filed a bill seeking to give the Commission on Elections the power to procure its own offices and increase the number of election personnel based on its needs.
“To guarantee the sanctity of the votes of the people, it is necessary to begin the process at the grassroots – in strengthening Comelec, the constitutional body whose principal role is to enforce all laws and regulations relative to the conduct of elections in the Philippines,” she said in filing Senate bill No. 2025, which in effect seeks to amend certain provisions of the Omnibus Election Code.
For instance, De Lima said the agency’s independence was “weakened” with Section 55, as the provision of Comelec offices was lodged with the Local Government Units under this section.
De Lima also cited a 2013 report which said that in 39 field offices in Luzon and the Visayas, Comelec personnel suffer from “poor working conditions and a shortage in basic resources – [such as] personnel, funds, office space – that prevent them from fully performing their duties in an effective and efficient manner.”
“In giving the Comelec the power to procure its own offices and enlist the personnel that it needs, the State effectively safeguards and holds sacred the ballots of the people, in whom all government powers reside,” she said.
