THE House of Representatives on Monday insisted on postponing the May 14, 2018 Barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan elections by passing a bill to that effect on third and final reading by a vote 164 to 27.
The House is expected to transmit to the Senate House Bill 7378 before it goes on a Holy Week break beginning March 23. But the Senate’s leaders say there may not be enough time to enact the measure as no counterpart bill has yet to be filed at the Senate.
Lawmakers say the postponement is intended to give way to the proposed shift to federalism being advocated by President Rodrigo Duterte.
The bill was approved despite stiff opposition from opposition lawmakers led by Rep. Lito Atienza, who says the proposed postponement is “wrong” as the people should be given the chance to vote and choose their leaders.
Rep. Edcel Lagman, a member of the House minority bloc, also opposed the postponement.
“Village elections are held to assure that barangay and youth officials are periodically fortified by the requisite electoral mandate for definite terms of office,” Lagman said.
“Twice the barangay and SK elections have been postponed by the present administration for no overriding reason, even as in the past village polls were also repeatedly reset.”
The House committee on suffrage and electoral reforms led by Rep. Sherwin Tugna says the postponement of the May 2018 village and SK elections will be a “cost-saving” move.
Duterte’s allies in Congress want to hold a plebiscite for the proposed new federal charter simultaneously with the May 2018 Barangay and SK elections. But they find it more feasible to have it conducted in October of the same year.
The Barangay and SK elections have been postponed since 2013.
This will be the third time the local elections will be postponed if the House committee on suffrage and electoral reforms’ decision is approved by the chamber in plenary session and later carried by the Senate.
Earlier, Congress enacted Republic Act 10853 resetting the October 2017 Barangay and SK elections to May 2018.
The postponement of the Barangay and SK elections last year came after Duterte demanded it because, he said, local officials would use drug money to influence the elections.