By Dominique Gabriel G. Bañaga

The Commission on Elections (Comelec) has pledged to pay P3.7 million in compensation for the support staff hired for the barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan elections in Negros Occidental’s Kabankalan City.

Comelec spokesperson Atty. Rex Laudiangco, in a statement, said the 660 support staff of Comelec-Kabankalan, who requested their honorarium from the local government, would receive P5,500 each.

Laudiangco said an ongoing investigation is noted in relation to the administrative and criminal liability of the involved individuals.

Atty. Ian Lee Ananoria, elections supervisor of Comelec in Negros Occidental, declined to comment on the matter.

Meanwhile, Kabankalan Mayor Benjie Miranda expressed his satisfaction that the concern of the support staff had been resolved.

Miranda also asserted that the circulating information claiming that he was the one who hired them, is not true, and emphasized that the city government did not have funds to pay them./DGB, WDJ