A LEGISLATOR insists that holding the next barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan elections (BSKE) in 2026 is meant to restore “consistency, constancy and stability” in the recurring balloting for these local executives.
Camarines Sur Rep. Luis Raymund Villafuerte in a statement said holding the BSKE in October 2026 is in accordance with the mandate of the 1987 Constitution and the Local Government Code of 1991 on three-year terms for these elective officials.
“Because the incumbent barangay and SK officials were elected in the BSKE polls last Oct. 30, 2023, they will in effect be serving for shorter two-year terms if the next balloting for these local officials were to be held on December 1, 2025 as now scheduled,” Villafuerte, a lead author of House Bill 10344 that sets the next BSKE polls in 2026, said.
He agreed with the view of a National Citizens Movement for Free Elections (Namfrel) that regular elections guarantee that the government remains accountable to the people as delaying this political exercise erodes confidence in this electoral process and in democratic institutions.
“Thus, we are pushing the holding of the next BSKE in 2026, instead of next year, precisely to bring back regularity to this triennial electoral exercise as set in the Constitution and the LGC of 1991 as well as RA (Republic Act No.) 11462 that remains as the controlling law on the BSKE.”
A Namfrel official was quoted in the media over the weekend as opposing the proposed moving back of the BSKE to 2026, claiming this would create uncertainty and deprive citizens of their right to choose their local leaders regularly.
Dismissing this view, Villafuerte pointed out that letting incumbent local officials to serve for just two years will mean “short-changing both these elective officials and their respective constituents who had voted them to office as their shorter terms diminishes the obligations of the incumbent BSK officials to serve their constituents, and lessens their accountabilities in the exercise of the power vested in them by the people's free choice.”
“An elective term is meant to be served out in full,” Villafuerte said. “HB 10344 does not attempt to extend the term of office of the incumbent BSK officials; Rather, it intends to harmonize the mandated three-year term of the incumbents and the next BSK elections.”
“In effect, this gives the present set of barangay and SK officials a full three years to serve and fixes the term for BSK officials to be every three years as mandated by the Constitution and the 1991 LGC,” he said.