The barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan elections scheduled in May next year would be held on Dec. 5, 2022 once the proposed measure for its deferment is enacted into law.
The Senate approved on second reading Senate Bill No. 1043 which seeks to hold the village and youth council elections on December 2022.
The bill seeking to postpone the barangay and SK elections scheduled in May next year had hurdled second reading in the Senate Tuesday night.
Under the bill, the next round of barangay and SK elections will be conducted on Dec. 5, 2022 instead of the second Monday of May 2020.
It also provides that subsequent synchronized barangay and SK elections shall be held on the first Monday of Dec. 2025 and every three years thereafter.
The amended Senate Bill No. 1043, a consolidation of five bills, was contained in Committee Report No. 4 and presented in the plenary by Sen. Imee Marcos, chair of the electoral reforms and people’s participation.
If enacted into law, there will be two elections in 2022—the presidential elections in May while the elections for village and youth leaders will be in December of the same year.
The last barangay elections were held in May 2018 by virtue of a law signed by President Rodrigo Duterte postponing the October 2017 polls.
“Congratulations to the distinguished lady senator from Leyte and Ilocos Norte for the first bill approved by the 18th Congress,” Majority Leader Migz Zubiri said on Senate floor immediately after the measure was approved by the Body.
At the House of Representatives, the committee on suffrage and electoral reforms also approved Tuesday the bill postponing the said elections.
Originally set for October 31, 2016, the local elections were first moved to October 23, 2017, and then to May 14, 2018, leading to village and youth council officials extending their terms.
The approval of the postponement of the polls came after President Rodrigo Duterte asked the Congress to postpone the village and youth council polls in his State of the Nation Address (Sona).