THE Supreme Court yesterday directed Malacañang and Congress to respond to the petition filed by election lawyer Romulo Macalintal challenging the constitutionality of Republic Act 12232 which postponed this year’s Barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan Elections (BSKE) to November 2026.
SC spokesperson Camille Sue Mae Ting said the magistrates, during their regular en banc session Tuesday, ordered the Senate, the House of Representatives, the Commission on Elections (Comelec) and Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin to submit their reply “within a non-extendible period of 10 days upon receipt of notice.”
Comelec chairman George Garcia said the poll body will “comply immediately as a nominal party.”
In his petition for certiorari and prohibition with a prayer for the issuance of a temporary restraining order filed last Friday, Macalintal asked the SC to “immediately halt” the implementation of RA 12232 and to order the Comelec to proceed with the holding of the BSKE on December 1, 2025.
Macalintal said postponing the BSKE to next year is tantamount to a violation of the people’s right to suffrage and their right to information.
He also cited the 2023 ruling of the High Court which held that Congress has no authority to postpone the conduct of elections if there is no valid reason to do so.
“The setting of the term of office of the barangay official and Sangguniang Kabataan is not a valid ground to postpone the election,” he said.
“With utmost due respect to the public respondents, the assailed law smacks of deception and clear misleading provisions. As if rammed down on one’s throat, Section 2 of RA 12232 unwarrantedly impose to the electorate that, whether we like it or not, the next BSKE will be held on November 2, 2026, All Souls Day,” he added.
