• GILBERT P. BAYORAN
Kabankalan City Mayor Benjie Miranda said Monday, Aug. 5, that he will allow the payment for the 661 support staff of the Commission on Elections (Comelec) who served in the 2023 Barangay and Sangguniang Kabataaan elections (BSKE) as long as it has “legal basis”.
Miranda confirmed that he received documents from the Comelec Negros Island Region on Aug. 2 that could serve as a legal basis for the local government unit to release the funds.
The support staff were supposed to be paid P5,500 each, but their hiring was not authorized by the Comelec central office.
Even before, Miranda said that the city government is willing to allocate funds for the honorarium, but they need legal basis.
The mayor said that the Comelec legal opinion is now being studied by the City Legal Office.
Should the payment be recommended by the CLO, they may appropriate funds for it, he added.
Miranda said that he agrees with Comelec-NIR regional director Lionel Marco Castillano on paying the Comelec support staff as they helped in the conduct of the 2023 BSKE.
There are still 221 other Comelec support staff in Himamaylan City, who were also not paid of their honorarium. | GB
