TODAY is the much-awaited day that qualified voters in all of the nation’s barangays will troop to the polling places to choose their leaders.
It is expected that millions of residents will vote. One of the reasons is that they desire to replace their leaders in the barangay. It should be noted that the incumbent barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan (SK) officials have been occupying their positions for five years now. Some of the SK officers might already be overage. Some barangay officials are too bored to serve by now although they benefit from financial perks that go with power.
The sad and outrageous thing is that some barangay officials are involved in illegal ways to line their pockets — drugs, illegal gambling, petty rackets like parking permits, and squatting syndicates. They have been beneficiaries of the postponement of the elections for three times, and it is now their time to go.
‘This law, which the Comelec has started to strictly implement this BSKE, may be the start of an even wider scope for the anti-political dynasty policy.’
The Marcos-era Batas Pambansa Blg. 222 was enacted in March 1982. It set the term of office of barangay officials to six years, starting on June 7, 1982. The original schedule of the Barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan Elections (BSKE) was Dec. 5, 2022. However, Congress passed a law that postponed it to the last Monday of October 2023.
It is good that the Supreme Court, after declaring Republic Act 11935 is unconstitutional because the barangay elections violate the rule on “genuine periodic elections, which must be held at intervals and not unduly long,” acceded to holding the BSKE today.
The High Tribunal said it recognizes the “legal practicality and necessity of proceeding with the conduct of the BSKE on the last Monday of October 2023 pursuant to the operative fact doctrine.”
Thus voters may credit the Supreme Court, Congress, and the Commission on Elections for paving the way for their exercise of their right of suffrage, after much political and legal arguments.
As of the latest count, the Philippines is home to some 42,027 barangays. Comelec records show there are 672,000 seats up for grabs in today’s elections. About 1.41 million people have filed their candidacies, including 828,644 candidates for the barangay council (kagawad) and 585,843 candidates for the youth council.
Many voters who have become disappointed with Philippine elections say that the nation has failed to reform and continues to be an economic laggard in the Southeast Asian region because the leaders who get elected are corrupt and interested only in enriching themselves during their term of office. This, to some extent, is true.
One reason for this sorry state of governance is that political dynasties have been lording it over the country for so long.
If it is a consolation to the disappointed masses, this SK election is different because of the experimental application of the anti-political dynasty policy in the Constitution, which up to now is just a constitutional principle without an all-encompassing enabling law.
It is heartening that Republic Act 10742, also known as the Sangguniang Kabataan Reform Act of 2015, mandates that SK candidates “must not be related within the second civil degree of consanguinity or affinity to any incumbent elected national official or to any incumbent elected regional, provincial, city, municipal, or barangay official, in the locality where he or she seeks to be elected.”
This law, which the Comelec has started to strictly implement this BSKE, may be the start of an even wider scope for the anti-political dynasty policy. This will redound to genuine electoral reforms for the Philippines, and hopefully, better governance.