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Sunday, April 03, 2005
Savings vs. right to choose
The postponement of the barangay and youth elections drew mixed reactions from local officials, with Cebu mayors’ league president Ronald Allan Cesante warning of the move’s grave implications on democracy.
“One of the tenets of democracy is allowing the governed to choose their leaders. Postponing that exercise of the government’s basic unit will have far-reaching effects on democracy. Who will stop them if the 2008 elections will be postponed and then the 2010?” Cesante said in a text message to Sun.Star Cebu yesterday.
Cebu City Mayor Tomas Osmeña shares Cesante’s view.
Although majority of the Cebu City Association of Barangay Councils (ABC) were ecstatic about their term’s extension, opposition officials and even Osmeña and ABC president Eugenio Faelnar want the elections to proceed this year.
Osmeña, in an earlier interview, said the people have the right to choose their officials and postponing the elections is like “tampering with the democratic process.”
If he had his way, the mayor said he would even reduce wages of government workers so funds can be allocated for the polls, which require a P2-billion budget.
Mandate
Congress, in approving the bill Friday night, cited the financial crisis as the main reason for shelving this year’s elections until 2008.
Faelnar earlier said he would rather have an election so they will know whether their constituents still want them as leaders.
“They should be prioritized by the democratic process,” he said, instead of being the ones to be primarily affected every time financial woes bug the country.
But Jakosalem’s colleague in Mandaue City, Carlo Pontico Fortuna, who is also the national president of the Philippine Councilors’ League, said they are happy that Congress has approved the postponement of the barangay and SK elections to 2008.
“It will save the needed revenue to address the fiscal problems of our government. The issue on postponing the election is economic and social, not political,” said Fortuna.
“The integrity of the position is not affected because those in office are elected by the people and they still have the mandate of the people,” Fortuna added.
Extension
For Marcelino Alivio, barangay captain of Basak, Mandaue City, the move is favorable to incumbent officials, especially for those who are already on their last terms like him.
He said the extension will also allow barangay officials to finish whatever big projects they have already started.
He admitted, though, that the extension of the term until 2008 will be disadvantageous for those constituents who are no longer satisfied with their officials, because they would have to bear another three years of their leadership.
But the barangay residents are not without remedy.
Alivio said they have the option to move for the recall of their barangay officials, only that it would be a more difficult procedure as it would require the signature of at least two-thirds of the barangay’s voting population.
Opposition barangay councilors in Cebu City, in random interviews with Sun.Star Cebu, said that by postponing elections, Congress has undermined the people’s rights and prolonged the agony of the constituents of those who are abusive.
Last batch?
Cebu City Sangguniang Kabataan (SK) Federation vice president Rafonzel Quijano, in a telephone interview, though, lauded the postponement, especially that there were reports the current crop of SK officials would be the “last batch.”
Although SK officials’ terms will be extended with the postponement of elections, the organization still has to contend with calls for its abolition.
Provincial Board Member Victoria Corominas also pointed out that resetting the SK elections will result in having over-aged youth leaders.
The House of Representatives approved on final reading last Friday night House Bill 3742, which moves the barangay and SK elections to 2008.
Even before the House passed the bill, Gov. Gwendolyn Garcia and the Association of Barangay Councils in Cebu Province already expressed support for the move.
Garcia and the ABC provincial federation said the P2-billion cost of the elections is better spent on services, considering the government’s tight budget. (JPM/RHM/ROV)
(April 3, 2005 issue)
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