THE Commission on Elections on Tuesday reiterated it will continue to prepare for the Barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan Elections set for May 14 unless a law postponing the polls is passed.
“Without a law postponing it, the BSKE2018 must continue to be considered a go,” Comelec spokesman James Jimenez said.
Rep. Edgar Erice on Monday criticized the decision of the House of Representatives to cancel the Barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan elections for the third time.
“The true motive for this is no-el, no elections for 2019, Erice told dzMM radio.
The Barangay and SK elections were supposed to be held in October 2016, but Congress postponed them to October 2017. The elections were later moved to May 14, 2018.
Erice said the the true intention for the elections’ cancellation was to synchronize the elections with the plebiscite on the new Constitution in October.
Meanwhile, Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez on Tuesday denied that some allies of President Rodrigo Duterte were pushing for the postponement of the village and youth council elections so they could cancel the 2019 midterm elections and extend their terms.
“There are many childish individuals who are imagining non-existent ghosts. We want to scare ourselves when there is no plan like that,” Alvarez said.
Alvarez also said he had started introducing to voters the possible bets of his party, the PDP-Laban, in next year’s Senate race.
Jimenez made his statement after the House of Representatives on Monday passed on third and final reading the bill postponing the polls to October this year.
“While this move undoubtedly brings us one step closer to a third postponement of the 2018 Barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan Elections, the Comelec will continue with the work of preparing for polls,” Jimenez said.
Senate President Aquilino Pimentel III earlier said the postponement of the Barangay and SK elections had no chance of passing in the Senate.
Meanwhile, the Parish Pastoral Council for Responsible Voting opposed the move to postpone the village elections again.