Winners of the October 2023 Barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan Elections (BSKE) will only get a two-year term instead of the previous three years after the Supreme Court declared unconstitutional the law that postponed the village polls from its original Dec. 5, 2022 date.
Republic Act 11935, signed into law by President Ferdinand Marcos, Jr. in October last year, moved the schedule of the polls from December 5, 2022 to the last Monday of October 2023, supposedly to create savings amounting to billions of pesos.
But the Supreme Court said it recognized the legal practicality and necessity of proceeding with the conduct of the BSKE on the last Monday of October 2023, pursuant to the operative fact doctrine.
Because RA 11935 was declared unconstitutional, the Court said its predecessor, RA 11462, is revived, which limits the term to Dec. 31, 2022.
All existing barangay and SK officers are deemed to be in a “hold-over” capacity.
To avoid confusion, the high court made clear that the next BSKE will be held on the first Monday of December 2025 and every three years after that date.
In finding the law unconstitutional, the Supreme Court granted the petitions filed by lawyers Romulo B. Macalintal, A. Alberto N. Hidalgo, Aluino O. Ala, Agerico A. Avila, Ted Cassey B. Castello, Joyce Ivy C. Macasa, and Frances May C. Realino.
“In granting the petitions, the Supreme Court made the following salient points: First, the Court declared that the free and meaningful exercise of the right to vote, as protected and guaranteed by the Constitution, requires the holding of genuine periodic elections which must be held at intervals which are not unduly long, and which ensure that the authority of government continues to be based on the free expression of the will of electors,” the Court said.
“Second, the Commission on Elections does not have the power to postpone elections on a nationwide basis. This power lies with the Congress pursuant to (i) its plenary power to legislate, and (ii) its power to fix the term of office of barangay officials under Article X, Section 8 of the Constitution,” the Court said.
“Third, the case has not been rendered moot to preclude the exercise by this Court of its judicial review power because RA 11935’s transgression on the people’s right of suffrage is continuing and did not cease upon the lapse of the Dec. 5, 2022 election schedule,” the tribunal added.
“Fourth, RA 11935 violates the freedom of suffrage as it failed to satisfy the requisites of the substantive aspect of the due process clause of the Constitution. The Court found that there was no
legitimate government interest or objective to support the legislative measure, and that the law unconstitutionally exceeds the bounds of Congress’s power to legislate,” the SC said.
“Fifth, the Court recognized the existence of RA 11935 as an operative fact which had consequences and effects that cannot be reversed nor ignored. As such, the Court said that the pronouncement on the constitutionality of RA 11935 shall retroact to the date of its enactment, subject to the proper recognition of the consequences and effects of the said law’s existence before the instant ruling,” the Court said.
The SC likewise held that the declaration of unconstitutionality of RA 11935 resulted in the revival of RA 11462, the law governing the BSKE prior to the enactment of the assailed act.
“Finally, the Court found it imperative to set forth guidelines and principles for the bench, the bar, and the public as regards any government action that seeks to postpone any elections,” the SC said.
The Comelec said it will push through with the BSKE despite the Supreme Court decision, the poll body’s chairman George Garcia said.
Garcia noted that while the Court found the law postponing the BSKE as unconstitutional, the justices said the Oct. 30, 2023 polls should push through, pursuant to the operative fact doctrine.
“With the SC decision, the Comelec will be mandated to hold another BSKE in 2025 as barangay and SK officials who will be elected this year will only be allowed to serve for two years,” Garcia said.
Garcia said the Comelec is 100 percent prepared to conduct the BSKE.
He said the procurement of election paraphernalia is complete, and 50 percent of the 91 million ballots needed have already been printed.
Since 2016, the barangay and SK polls have been repeatedly postponed.
The October 2016 barangay and SK polls were postponed to October 2017.
From there, it was postponed to May 2018, which was again reset to Dec. 5, 2022.
Senate Minority Leader Aquilino Pimentel III said the Court’s decision validated his earlier stand that there was no compelling reason to delay the polls.
He strongly opposed the postponement of the barangay and SK polls and voted against RA 11935.
The opposition leader emphasized “the importance of regular, periodic, fair, free, honest, and accurate elections as essential components of an inclusive and functioning democracy.”
“The postponement, without any compelling reason, undermined the constitutional rights of suffrage and weakens the foundation of our democratic institutions,” Pimentel said.
Senator Imee Marcos said she respects the Supreme Court’s decision but maintained that the reasons for postponement which were taken up during the debates and hearings remain valid.
She noted that the present barangay and SK officials need sufficient time to implement their programs which have been sidetracked by the pandemic.
Opposition Rep. Edcel Lagman also welcomed the Supreme Court decision.
Lagman said the decision sustained his position and those of a few other legislators who challenged the statute.
“The electorate’s right of suffrage must be exercised in determinable intervals and regularly scheduled elections,” Lagman, president of the Liberal Party, said.
The high court’s ruling likewise confirms our opposition to the repeated postponement of the village and youth elections based on arbitrary grounds like ‘election fatigue’,” he added.