CALOOCAN City Rep. Edgar Erice, an opposition lawmaker, said Sunday the postponement of the 2019 midterm elections was not yet dead in Congress.
He told dzBB radio that Congress was also batting to reset the barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan elections from May 14 to October this year to give way to the plebiscite on the proposed switch to a federal form of government.
He made the statement even as Senate Minority Leader Franklin Drilon said there were plans by some lawmakers, mostly allies of President Rodrigo Duterte, to railroad the process of amending the 1987 Constitution to enable them to extend their terms.
He told dzBB radio that the May 2018 Barangay elections would be postponed to October in order for it to be held simultaneously with the plebiscite on the proposed amendments to the Constitution.
“What is frightening is that there is a plan to railroad the administration’s Charter change to extend their terms. The first casualty will be the cancellation of the elections in May and the people’s power to choose their leaders,” Drilon said.
Erice said during the Feb. 20 caucus by lawmakers in the National Capital Region, Oriental Mindoro Rep. Reynaldo Umali raised the resetting of the village elections amid the discussion on the original agenda on the implementation of programs in their respective legislative districts.
“That is the purpose. Actually, the purpose of the postponement of the barangay [and SK] elections to October is to pave the way for a plebiscite of a Charter change wherein there would be a provision of a no-el [no election in 2019],” he said.
Umali wanted to hold a federalism plebiscite simultaneously with the barangay and SK polls in October 2018, Erice said.
“There is a need for a postponement as a help to the President [Rodrigo Duterte],” he said, adding “if possible, move the [barangay and SK] elections to October simultaneous with the conduct of a plebiscite toward a no election in May [2019] for a change in the Constitution.”
According to Erice, Umali had asked them to take with them their constituents in the Feb. 27 and Feb. 28 Liga ng mga Barangay event at the Plaza Miranda, Manila, to back the call for the postponement of barangay and SK elections and federalism initiative.
Those originally invited to be present at the last caucus of the Metro Manila lawmakers but failed to attend were Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez and House majority floor leader and Ilocos Norte Rep. Rodolfo Fariñas.
Umali, an ally of Alvarez and Fariñas, attended the event.
He earlier filed a bill to reset the barangay and SK polls from May 2018 to May 2019, while Surigao del Sur Rep. Johnny Pimentel also authored a similar measure moving the elections only from May to October 2018.
When asked to comment on Erice’s claim, Umali said everything was possible.
“What I am saying is anything can happen. We are looking into that [postponement] because there is a need so we could be able to concentrate on federalism and the Charter change,” he told dzBB.
“Of course, if that is what we [really] need so we could push for Charter change and the so-called federalism,” he replied when asked if the postponement of the barangay and SK polls could lead to the no-el scenario in May 2019