Village, youth polls to push through (4:18 p.m.)

MANILA -- The barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan (SK) elections will push through as scheduled on October 25, said Senator Ferdinand Marcos Jr.

Marcos is the chair of the committee on local government tasked by the Senate to conduct a hearing on Senate Bill 60, authored by Senator Juan Miguel Zubiri, and Senate Bill 2377. Both bills seek the postponement of the barangay and youth polls this October.

Marcos said it was President Benigno Aquino III who decided to push through with the polls in a meeting with some members of the House of Representatives on August 24 in Malacañang.

In that meeting, he said, President Aquino instructed some members of the House Majority to vote down any bill that would propose to postpone the elections.

Marcos said thorough deliberations were made on the legal, financial and political issues involving the proposed postponement of the barangay and SK elections, including the practicability of automation.

There were also in-depth discussions on the various reasons, arguments for and against the proposal and its budgetary requirements, the proposed reorganization or abolition of the SK, and the proposed synchronization of the barangay and SK elections with the national and local elections in 2013, Marcos added.

In view of the development and in the interest of good order, Marcos recommended that Senate Bills 60 and 2377, the proposed draft of the committee report, and the copy of his recommendation to President Aquino to postpone the barangay and SK elections scheduled this October 25 be archived for records purposes.

He clarified that his recommendation is without prejudice to the continuing deliberations on the proposed reorganization of the SK and the synchronization of the barangay and youth polls with the national and local elections in 2013. (PR)