ELECTIONS lawyer Romulo Macalintal yesterday pressed President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. to veto the bill setting the term of office for barangay officials, saying her should not allow the postponement of the December 2025 Barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan Elections (BSKE) to happen.
“For President Marcos to approve this bill or allow it to lapse into law would be tantamount to abandoning the sacred right of suffrage of the Filipino electorate,” Macalintal said in a statement.
“He should immediately veto the reconciled bill from Congress,” he added.
Macalintal stressed vetoing the measure is warranted under the 2022 Supreme Court ruling in the Macalintal vs. Comelec case, which provides that any postponement of a barangay election, or any election for that matter, must be supported by a valid government interest.
“In a word, this bill suffers from the same constitutional and legal flaws as Republic Act No. 11935, which attempted to postpone the December 2022 BSKE but was declared unconstitutional by the Supreme Court,” he said.
Macalintal also noted the new date eyed for the BSKE on November 2, 2026 is All Souls’ Day.
“It is a date that is part of a common Filipino tradition, where November 1 and 2 are widely celebrated religious holidays in the Philippines, thereby highlighting the impracticality of holding the BSKE on that date,” he said.
The BSKE is scheduled to be held on December 1, 2025. However, the proposed term extension of barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan officials was approved by both chambers of Congress, which could mean moving the BSKE to the first Monday of November 2026.
