THE Commission on Elections on Monday said it had temporarily suspended the printing of the ballots for the village and youth council elections in October, but it would continue with the preparations for those elections while the proposal to postpone them was pending.
“Considering the overwhelming support from the Executive branch, Congress and the Senate to postpone the elections, we will still abide by the law. It is only Congress who can postpone elections,” Comelec Spokesman James Jimenez said in a statement.
“Our preparations will be in full swing this September if nothing happens to postpone the elections. We will continue printing the ballots for the SK on Sept. 1.”
Jimenez made his statement even as lawmakers led by Leyte Rep. Yedda Romualdez on Monday supported the deferment of the Sangguniang Kabataan and barangay elections as the super majority would hold a caucus on Tuesday afternoon to pass a joint resolution for it.
Romualdez said she supported suspending the barangay and SK polls since the country had just held in May the very divisive presidential polls.
“There is also a broad consensus among the officials of the Executive, Congress and even the Comelec to suspend the polls,” said Romualdez, wife of former Leyte Rep. Martin Romualdez.
Senator Juan Edgardo Angara said he expected the postponement of the barangay and SK elections, but the members of Congress would not be amenable to abolishing the Youth and village councils.
Senator JV Ejercito, the principal author of the SK Reform Law, said he wanted to give the SK another chance, while Senator Bam Aquino wanted the same.
Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez said his desire to scrap the youth and village councils was the reason he wanted the elections deferred.
The Comelec has so far printed only 411,000 ballots as of Aug. 28, which are intended for Agusan del Norte and Agusan del Sur.
The agency is aiming to print 85-million ballots: 57 million for the village council elections and 28 million for youth council elections before Oct. 21 this year.
Comelec Chairman Andres Bautista said the postponement of the SK Barangay Council elections was the “most prevailing sentiment” among lawmakers.
He said there was a possibility that the Barangay and SK elections might be postponed as agreed upon by President Rodrigo Duterte and Congress.
Bautista had previously called on Malacañang and Congress to postpone the barangay and SK elections since the country had just concluded the May national elections.
