THE Senate yesterday ratified the bicameral conference report on the measure postponing the December 2022 barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan elections (BSKE) after lawmakers from the Senate and the House of Representatives met to discuss the disagreeing provisions of their respective versions.
The consolidated version of Senate Bill No. 1306 and House Bill No. 4673 moved the December 5, 2022 polls to the last Monday of October 2023. The next BSKE will be held every three years thereafter.
The House yesterday likewise ratified the bicameral report and adopted the Senate version of the bill.
The Senate approved the proposed measure on third and final reading last Tuesday, while the House passed its counterpart measure last September 20.
The Commission on Elections (Comelec) has started preparations for the BSKE. Elections chairman George Garcia stated earlier that only a signed law postponing the polls to a later date can stop the poll body’s from preparing for the December 5 polls.
Sen. Joseph Victor Ejercito, chairman of the Senate bicameral contingent, said the panel agreed to use the Senate version as the working draft.
Under the ratified version, elected officials will start their terms of office noontime of November 30, 2023.
Ejercito said the bicameral group agreed to set the elections on the last Monday of October since many young voters are on a Halloween break at the time.
He added that this will be more “cost-effective with reference to the position paper and computation of the Commission on Elections which was submitted to the committee on electoral reforms.”
He said there were precedents that barangay and SK elections were held in October, like those in 2007, 2010, and 2013.
“In the 2007, the barangay and SK elections were held on October 29, in 2010 October 25, and October 28 in 2013. So, there were precedents,” he added.
With respect to the budget appropriations, Ejercito said the group agreed to adopt “Section 4 of the House version,” while the provision which mandates the Commission on Audit to submit an audit report to Congress on the budget utilized for the postponed December 5, 2022 elections within 90 days from the effectivity of the law “was deleted.”
“It will be available anytime especially during the budget deliberations. We can already ask the Comelec,” Ejercito said.
The Comelec has earlier told House members that it would need P18.4 billion if the BSKE was postponed to next year. The budget for the December 2022 polls was only P7.5 billion.
Ejercito said postponing the barangay and SK elections to next year will give lawmakers enough time to tackle proposed amendments to the barangay and SK systems.
“This would give us ample amount of time to revisit our laws and introduce amendments to further strengthen the roles and mandate of our barangay officials,” he said.
Senators Aquilino Pimentel III and Risa Hontiveros voted “no” to the ratification of the bicameral report. — With Wendell Vigilia
