SEnator Juan Edgardo Angara, the Senate local government committee chairman, said the barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan elections will likely be postponed following overwhelming support for its deferment from Congress and other sectors.
Citizens Battle Against Corruption party-list Rep. Sherwin Tugna, the chairman of the House committee on suffrage and electoral reforms, also admitted that majority of his colleagues in the House of Representatives would want to defer the village polls
“I think, very likely it will be postponed given that there’s overwhelming support. Originally, I thought the support was only here in Congress. But after hearing the resource persons, even the executive, DILG Secretary Mike Sueno, whom they said is the alter ego of the President, also spoke in favor of postponement,” Angara said.
The senator yesterday heard the proposals referred to his committee for the postponement of the barangay and SK polls. He cited the urgent need to consider these proposed measures because less than 70 days are left before the elections.
Bills deferring the twin elections were filed by Senators Angara, Alan Peter Cayetano, Leila De Lima and Joel Villanueva.
Angara said the Executive does not want to hamper the ongoing projects because of another election ban. He said the House already has their own versions of the postponement measure, one of which was authored by House Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez.
“So if the author is the House Speaker, usually there is a marching order to pass the postponement,” he said.
He said the version of either House can be adopted. “Whoever finished first. The one who finishes later can adopt the earlier version. If the versions are the same, there would be no need for a bicam.”
Angara’s Senate Bill 1049 resets the barangay and SK elections from the original October 31 schedule to the last Monday of October 2018.
If passed, the terms of the barangay officials would be extended to five years from the current three years.
“The postponement will afford Congress more time to study how the country’s 42,036 barangays could be further empowered, and to possibly pass reforms and amendments to existing laws including the Local Government Code. It will also provide a measure of political stability, as the country dives head on into debates on Charter Change,” Angara said.
Meanwhile, Tugna said his panel will conduct a hearing next week to come up with a consensus on several proposals to suspend the barangay and SK elections pursuant to Section 1 of Republic Act 9164 as amended by RA 9340.
“In our consultations, majority of the lawmakers favored resetting the barangay and SK polls,” Tugna said in an interview. “But this is unofficial, we are waiting for the majority to take the official stand on the matter, possibly during a caucus.”
A source from the House leadership said Alvarez will allow the panel to hold the hearing Tuesday next week while the House committee on appropriations deliberates the P3.35-trillion General Appropriations Bill (GAB) for 2017.
Leyte Rep. Yedda Marie Romualdez, member of the majority bloc, said she personally supports the clamor to suspend the barangay and SK polls especially that the country just held last May what she described as “very divisive” presidential polls.
“We can also study the proposal to ensure that necessary reforms in barangay and SK are put in place before another polls for these are held,” Romualdez said.
Surigao del Norte Rep. Robert Ace Barbers filed House Resolution 51 last June 30, calling for the postponement of the 2016 barangay and SK elections until Congress has determined an appropriate date for its conduct.
“The billions of pesos that can be saved by the deferment can be used for other worthwhile government projects like construction of public roads, school buildings, scholarship programs and other endeavors, Barbers said.
Tugna also said that his panel and the Commission on Elections (Comelec) are discussing the proposal to suspend the village and SK elections ahead of the scheduled hearings next week.
The Comelec said the polls should be moved to a later date to avoid “election fatigue” in the country following the May national elections.
The Comelec has started printing the 85 million ballots that will be used for the October barangay and SK polls despite various proposals from Congress to postpone it.
Chairman Andrea Bautista said they are hoping to receive an advisory from Congress whether or not to push with the elections by the end of August so the Comelec can halt the preparations and the money spent would not be wasted.