IS holding the national and local as well as barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan (SK) elections simultaneously feasible in the future?
No, according to Comelec Deputy Director for Operations Teopisto Elnas, who said that such would not only be impractical but is also against the law.
Speaking at a press conference in Manila, Elnas said the law provides that “barangay elections should be conducted in an inexpensive manner.”
“The national and local elections is already automated in the country. And the automated elections is very expensive,” Elnas said.
In addition, the poll official said it would be impractical because of the number of ballot faces required if the barangay and SK elections will be automated.
“We have 42,000 barangays. In effect, that’s 42,000 ballot faces also. In the national and local, we have 1,634 cities and municipalities. That’s way fewer ballot faces,” he said.
“As far as the Comelec is concerned, it is not practical to hold the barangay and SK polls with the national and local elections,” Elnas stressed.
For his part, acting Comelec spokesman John Rex Laudiangco said it will be difficult to meet the requirement of the law to keep the barangay polls “non-partisan” if it is conducted with the national elections.
“Section 38 of the Local Government Code states that the conduct of the barangay election shall be non-partisan. It will be very difficult to comply with the apolitical and non-partisan requirement for the BSKE if we are going to conduct it simultaneous with the NLE, which is very political,” Laudiangco said.
The Comelec has just conducted the national and local elections last May 9 with the next one set in May 2025. On the other hand, the barangay and SK polls is set to be held on December 5 with the last one held in May 2018.
Meanwhile, the National Movement for Free Elections (Namfrel) yesterday thumbed down proposals to postpone the December 2022 barangay and SK elections, saying the poll exercise must be held as scheduled.
In a statement, Namfrel said it is imperative for the barangay and youth polls to be allowed to proceed on December 5 as it is one of the main “essence of democracy.”
“The will of the people, as expressed through the ballot, is the very essence of democracy. This should not be set aside again,” the Namfrel said.
The poll watchdog said the reason of repurposing the budget for the village and youth polls for the country’s pandemic response is unacceptable because “the voice of the people is priceless. It can never be reduced to monetary terms.”
In addition, the group said it is important for barangay leaders to have the full support of their constituents being the primary planning and implementing unit of government policies, plans, and programs.
“As the level of government closest to the people, each voter should be given regularly and without interruption the right to choose the leaders they see and interact with on a daily basis,” said Namfrel.
It also said the recently approved Republic Act No. 11768, which instituted additional SK reforms, must be given the chance to be implemented.
“These reforms should be accompanied by a fresh mandate, through elections of the SK chair and members,” said Namfrel.
Earlier, Leyte 4th District Rep. Richard Gomez filed House Bill 937 that seeks to postpone the elections scheduled this December 5 to a later date.
Similarly, Senator Jinggoy Estrada filed a bill seeking to move the next barangay and SK elections from December 5, 2022 to the first Monday of December 2023.
Both proposals expressed belief that the budget for the barangay and SK polls should be used to finance other economic programs and health services of the government.
