COMELEC to pay 660 Kabankalanon BSKE support staff

Good news for the 660 support staff who served during the Barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan Elections (BSKE) on October 30 in Kabankalan City.

The Commission on Elections has committed to pay the honoraria of the 660 support staff hired by the its local office in Kabankalan, Atty. John Rex Laudiangco, the poll body’s spokesperson, said in a statement.

Laudiangco, in the statement posted on the official Facebook account of COMELEC, said Kabankalan Mayor Benjie Miranda earlier disclosed that the 660 BSKE support staff had not received their honoraria “due to an honest mistake made by the Office of the City Election Officer – Kabankalan City in the process of hiring their services.”

“Due to this unprecedented incident, the COMELEC has taken the proactive step of paying the honoraria of all 660 BSKE 2023 support staff in the city. Each support staff is entitled to receive P5,500 as an honorarium for the election services they rendered,” he said.

In an interview earlier this week, Miranda said the city government “has no obligation to pay” the 660 BSKE support staff, adding that, “we have no budget for the payment of honoraria amounting to P3,700,000.”

Laudiangco said an investigation is ongoing to determine the administrative and or criminal liability of the COMELEC field officers involved in this incident.* (EYAdiong)