House panel OKs postponement of barangay, SK polls to Dec 2023

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BY WENDELL VIGILIA and GERARD NAVAL

THE House committee on suffrage and electoral reforms yesterday approved the measure seeking to postponement the December 5 Barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan elections (BSKE) to December 4 next year to save government funds in the wake of the national and local elections held last May.

Congressmen voted 12 against two in favor of the one-year postponement on the motion of Cavite Rep. Elpidio Barzaga Jr., who also moved that the barangay and SK polls be held on the first Monday of December 2023 and three years thereafter.

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Those elected during the December 2023 polls will start their term noontime of January 1, 2024.

Party-list Reps. France Castro (Makabayan) and Raoul Manuel (Kabataan), who are members of the militant Makabayan bloc, voted against the postponement, citing the position of some SK officials such as Model SK, the University of the Philippines-National College of Public Administration and Governance (UP-NCPAG) and the Polytechnic University of the Philippines College of Political Science and Public Administration Student Councils, and aspiring SK candidates, who are calling on legislators to reconsider postponement and push through with the original schedule of the synchronized polls in December.

“We reiterate that another election postponement would likely paralyze many Sangguniang Kabataan nationwide given their prolonged terms resulting in more and more vacancies. During the committee hearing, a policy consultant already voiced concerns on the more than 34,000 vacant positions in 11,566 barangays,” said the 27-year-old Manuel.

There are 30 bills seeking to postpone the December polls, including those filed by Rep. Mujiv Hataman of Basilan, Richard Gomez of Leyte and Deputy Speaker Aurelio Gonzales who said the money to be saved from the postponement could be used for other purposes, such as for COVID-19 pandemic response and financial aid to the poor.

The Commission on Elections (Comelec) told the panel that postponing the barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan elections for at least year will entail an additional cost of P5 billion.

“If we postpone it to March or December 2023, we will have to continue registration of new voters. This will mean additional voters, additional ballots, additional teachers (who will serve as poll workers), additional precincts, additional election paraphernalia,” Elections Chairman George Garcia said.

Garcia, who noted that the poll body has only spent some P800,000 out of its P8.449 billion budget for the synchronized polls, also urged lawmakers not to set the date of the polls beyond 2023 since it will be too close to the 2025 midterm elections.

“We recognize that, and therefore as far as the issue is concerned, it is a political question, kami po sa (we in the) Commission on Elections will just abide by the mandate of Congress and the Executive as far as postponing the election is concerned, and whether it be May of 2023, December of 2023, huwag naman pong (please don’t do it in) 2024 because we are so – by that time we’ll be preparing for the 2025 elections,” he said.

In an interview, Garcia said resetting the BSKE to May 2023 would be the most “practical” date to hold the local and youth polls.

“Holding it on May 2023 would be reasonable. But that is not an endorsement from me. That is just an expression of an opinion,” he said, adding that holding the polls in the middle of next year is preferable as it will not overlap with the Comelec’s preparations for the May 2025 midterm elections.

“We don’t want our preparations for the 2025 elections interrupted. Take note that the national and local elections in 2025 is automated. And because it is computerized, we need to have adequate preparations. So, we hope it won’t be held too close to the 2025 elections,” said Garcia.

Nevertheless, the poll chief assured that they are prepared to hold the electoral exercise whenever the lawmakers decide to set it.

“We are mandated to implement the law. We will comply with whatever Congress tells us,” Garcia said, adding that postponing the BSKE would allow the Comelec to inch closer to its target of having 29 million new registrants.

He said there are around 24 million new registered voters for the December 2022 polls.

Sen. Jose Estrada said the Senate will conduct a hearing next week on the proposed postponement of the BSKE.

Estrada and Sen. Francis Escudero have filed similar measures, but only the proposed bill of Escudero has been referred to the Senate committee on electoral reforms and people’s participation chaired by Sen. Imee Marcos.

Escudero has proposed that the BSKE be postponed until May 2024, while Estrada recommends that it be held on December 2023.

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“We will have our own hearing by next week as assured to me by Sen. Imee Marcos. We will have to deliberate on the date of the postponement. But both of us agreed to hold the BSK elections on May 2023. Nothing final yet,” Estrada said.

In filing the proposed measure, Estrada said the postponement of the BSK elections will give Filipinos more time to “heal” as people were divided during the May 2022 elections, aside from the country still battling the pandemic.

He said the P8-billion budget for the polls can instead be used to fund programs for economic recovery and health services to ease the effects of the pandemic. — With Raymond Africa

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