THE House of Representatives on Wednesday night approved on second reading a consolidated bill seeking to reset the scheduled Oct. 23, 2017 barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan elections to May 14, 2018.
Voting 19-2, the Lower House approved House Bill 6308 with a holdover provision among incumbent officials.
Citizens Battle Against Corruption Party-list Rep. Sherwin Tugna, House committee on suffrage and electoral reforms, expressed optimism the Senate will act on the measure at the soonest possible time as soon as the House-approved version of the bill is elevated to the Upper House.
He said the measure was approved to help the anti-illegal drugs campaign of President Rodrigo Duterte.
“The approval will help the campaign of the President against illegal drugs,” Tugna said.
“We have heard the positions of barangay captains and officials of the Philippine National Police and the Comelec [Commission on Elections] who support the suspension of barangay and SK elections, this is the basis of our decision,” Tugna said.
The approval of the measure came as lawyer Czarena Aquino of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency said the anti-drug agency arrested at least 87 barangay chairmen and 256 village councilors in the intensified anti-drug war campaign of President Duterte.
One of the bill’s authors, Surigao del Norte Rep. Robert Ace Barbers, chair man of the House committee on dangerous drugs, welcomed the measure’s approval on third and final reading.
“This measure is crucial to the anti-illegal drugs drive of the government,” Barbers said.
Earlier in the day, the Commission on Elections announced that the filing of Certificate of Candidacy for the Oct. 23, 2017 barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan elections will start on Sept. 23, 2017.
The Comelec released the guidelines on the filing of COCs for the local elections hours before the House of Representatives passed on second reading postponing the village and SK elections.
The poll body said the barangay and SK elections will elect one punong barangay and seven members of the Sangguniang barangay, while for the youth council, one Chairperson and seven members of the SK will be elected.
The qualifications for punong barangay and Members of the Sangguniang barangay are as follows: must be citizen of the Philippines; a registered voter in the Barangay where he intends to be elected; resident therein for at least one (1) year immediately preceding the day of the election; able to read and write Filipino or any other local language or dialect; and at least 18 years of age on Election Day.
For the Sangguniang Kabataan council, hereunder are the qualifications must be a citizen of the Philippines; a qualified voter of the Katipunan ng Kabataan (KK); a resident of the Barangay for not less than one year immediately preceding the day of the elections; at least eighteen years but not more than twenty four years of age on the day of the elections; able to read and write Filipino, English of the local dialect; and must not be related within the 2nd civil degree of consanguinity or affinity to any incumbent elected national official or to any incumbent elected regional, provincial, city, municipal or barangay official in the locality where aspirant seeks to be elected; and must not have been convicted by final judgment of any crime involving moral turpitude.
The COCs shall be filed at the Office of the election officer of the City, Municipality or District where the aspirant seeks to be elected.