What does an election cost?
For Senator Juan Miguel F. Zubiri, an election begins with a cost of four billion pesos, but ends with opportunity. When Senator Zubiri filed Senate Bill No. 60, he said that the proposed bill “seeks to reset the synchronized Barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan elections and extend the terms of office of barangay officials to five years in a bid to address the issue of effective governance and implementation of long-term projects nationwide,” but readily admitted that the “basic premise of the postponement is cost and savings to government.” Citing the budget deficit that President Aquino inherited from the previous administration, Senator Zubiri added that “it would be better to use the almost P4 billion to other priorities”.
In the end, one could say that Senator Zubiri wanted to give President Aquino that most priceless of political commodities: an opportunity to do good. At a time when budgetary constraints threaten to prevent the current administration from taking concrete steps to fulfill the promises it made to the Filipino people, Senator Zubiri’s initiative should have been welcome. Yet, it is not.
