SEN. Imee Marcos yesterday introduced for plenary discussions the Committee on Electoral Reforms and People’s Participation report endorsing the postponement of the barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan elections from December 5, 2022 to the second Monday of December 2023.
Marcos’ sponsorship came a day after a similar was approved by the House of Representatives approved on second reading.
In her sponsorship speech, Marcos said delaying the barangay and youth elections “is a means to buy us time for a series of measures the Committee on Electoral Reforms and People’s Participation is proposing to Congress.”
“This is a preliminary measure to give us time to study and debate the deeper issues confronting the barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan under our present laws,” Marcos said, adding that among the issues needed to be addressed are the billions of pesos spent by the government for each barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan elections, and proposals to streamline the present SK system, particularly the abolition of the SK federation at the barangay level and maintain it only at the city and municipal levels.
Marcos said the “fact” that the barangay and SK elections “have been postponed through the decades” show that there are “unfinished business or deeper issues plaguing the barangay and SK systems.”
She said election fatigue has caught up with Filipinos since elections are always held “almost yearly” after a presidential election.
“A quick review reveals that every barangay election since 1989 has been postponed resulting in an actual extension of term averaging four to five years hence. I propose that the term of barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan officials be extended to six years and permanently fixed their elections the year following the presidential elections,” she said.
