SENATORS are divided over a request for funds to hold recall elections in six areas where voters are dissatisfied with their local executives, an official said yesterday.

Congress would be duty-bound to provide the extra money if endorsed by Malaca?ang, since incumbent governors and mayors could not be expected to finance an electoral exercise to yank them out of office, Senator Francis Escudero said.

?Naturally, the recall elections will not prosper if they would rely on the incumbent local chief executives for funding,? said Escudero, chairman of the committee on constitutional amendments.

The Commission on Elections has started recall proceedings against six elected local officials?including Pampanga Gov. Eddie Panlilio?but says it has only P50 million for the exercise instead of the P93 million necessary to finance it.

Panlilio aside, the five other officials to be recalled are Sulu Gov. Abdusakur Tan; Cabuyao, Laguna Mayor Isidro Isidro Hemedes Jr.; Mauban, Quezon Mayor Rexito Bantayan; Matag-ob, Leyte Mayor Gervasio Basbas; and Pantabangan, Nueva Ecija Vice Mayor Rossman Carry Uera.

But Senator Richard Gordon said he would oppose any bill allocating funds for the recall elections because they were a waste of taxpayers? money.

?I don?t believe in recall elections,? said Gordon, the immediate past chairman of the committee being led by Escudero.

?That was one of the reasons why I voted against the 1987 Constitution. How can you have a recall election for somebody whose term is only three years??

Gordon said only about 16 months were left of the term of the officials in question, so holding recall elections would be a stupid use of resources.

Minority Leader Aquilino Pimentel Jr. said he was keeping an open mind on the proposed funding.

He said he was the principal author of the Local Government Code, a law that introduced recall elections to empower the people to remove incompetent officials.

?We have to check the status of the funds of Comelec. We cannot just agree and say okay,? Pimentel said.

He said he would like to know whether the expenses for the recall elections could be financed out of Comelec?s P5.5-billion budget this year.

Meanwhile, Comelec?s office in Pampanga said it had enough time to conduct the recall election against Panlilio before the election ban took effect this year.

?Under normal circumstances, there is still material time for the recall petition to push through,? provincial election officer Temie Lambino said.

In the City of San Fernando, the group that initiated the recall petition against Panlilio said it was optimistic a recall election could be held before the election ban took effect. Fel V. Maragay with Albert Lacanlale