THERE will be no Barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan elections next month.
This developed after both houses of Congress—The Senate and the House of Representatives—separately approved on third and final reading the consolidated bill seeking to postpone the elections next month to give way to reforms that will improve the institutions’ ability to serve their constituents.
Senate Bill No. 1112, primarily sponsored and authored by Senate Committee on Local Government Chairman, Senator Juan Edgardo Angara, was co-authored by Senators Leila de Lima, Alan Peter Cayetano, Loren Legarda, Joel Villanueva, Cynthia Villar and Juan Miguel Zubiri.
Angara said the measure aims to move the twin elections, originally set on Oct. 31 this year, to the fourth Monday of October next year, or Oct. 23.
In the meantime, the terms of incumbent and SK officials will be extended “for a year unless they are removed or suspended from office.”
He said a foremost reason for pushing through with postponement is to allow more time for the full implementation of the SK Reform Act or Republic Act No. 10742, “a product of the hard work of our colleagues, Senators Bam Aquino, JV Ejercito, and former senator Bongbong Marcos.”
Angara added the government was not ready to implement many of the provisions and programs under the SK Reform Act, signed into law last January “to improve the services of the SK and make it more meaningful.”
In the House, Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez presided over the plenary session, and steered the passage of House Bill 3504, with the chamber voting 218-4 to approve on third and final reading the proposed bill.
The measure was a consolidation of 11 other bills seeking the postponement and principally authored by Alvarez.
Prior to the bill’s approval, Cebu Rep. Raul del Mar said the measure—as provided under the House rules—should have been approved on final reading after three session days after it was passed at the committee level and on second reading at the same time last Sept. 7.
But Alvarez did not entertain Del Mar’s objection as the call for the postponement of the village and youth polls is deemed an urgent measure.
Leyte Rep. Yedda Romualdez, wife of former House Independent Bloc leader and ex-Leyte Rep. Martin Romualdez, was among the lawnakers who supported the postponement of the said polls.
She earlier said she personally supported the clamor to suspend the barangay and SK polls especially that the country just held last May what she described as the “very divisive” presidential polls.
“We can also study the proposal to ensure that necessary reforms in barangay and SK are put in place before another polls for these are held,” Romualdez said.
In the Senate, Angara said RA 10742 called for the creation of a training fund worth P50 million to be used for the mandatory training of SK officials. But these trainings, according to him, “cannot take place this year since the 2016 General Appropriations Act does not provide any such training funds.”
Angara also cited the presence of ‘election fatigue’ among voters since only four months have passed since the national elections last May.
“Consider how, according to the Commission on Elections (Comelec) only 3.095 million – or less than 50 percent – new voters were registered in time for the SK polls out of the target six million this year,” he added.
“Postponement only gives the Comelec more time to assure higher voter turnout for these elections, and would-be voters the head space to fully consider who should lead their barangays,” he said.
Senate President Aquilino Pimentel III said a key provision of the consolidated bill was that it would allow President Rodrigo Duterte to appoint “new government officials to man sensitive posts that would be temporarily shelved because of an election ban.”
