Wednesday, September 12, 2007 DILG bars third-termers from seeking reelection
A TOP official of the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) recently reminded all barangay elective officials about the coverage of their three-consecutive term limit.
In a department advisory, Local Government Undersecretary Austere Panadero cited Section 2 of Republic Act 9164, which states that the term of office of all barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan (SK) officials shall be three years.
Provision
It said that no barangay elective officials shall serve for more than three consecutive terms in the same position and that their term of office shall start from the 1994 barangay polls.
The provision added that “voluntary renunciation of office for any length of time shall not be considered as an interruption in the continuity of service for the full term for which the elective official was elected.”
“Clearly from the foregoing, elective barangay officials are covered by the three-consecutive term limit rule to hold the same position and for this purpose, the first term shall be reckoned from the 1994 barangay elections,” read Panadero’s Aug. 7 letter.
The DILG issued the advisory after it received several oral and written queries regarding the forthcoming synchronized barangay and SK elections.
Talisay City Councilor Edward Alesna, committee chairman on laws, is among those who formally asked for a clarification from the DILG.
The elections have been set on Oct. 29, but these may be postponed in view of a bill seeking to hold the polls instead in 2009.
Rep. Eduardo Gullas (Cebu, 1st district), the bill’s main proponent, is confident that the House of Representatives will pass the measure this week, giving the Senate enough time to tackle and consider it.
Gullas is against the holding of the barangay and SK elections this year because the government will have to spend millions to hold two national polls in less than six months.
However, other Cebuano lawmakers, including Rep. Antonio Cuenco (Cebu City, south), expects the bill to be shelved in the Senate because of strong opposition from Sen. Aquilino Pimentel Jr., the minority floor leader, and Sen. Richard Gordon, the committee chairman on suffrage and electoral reforms.
Cuenco even quoted Pimentel as saying that he will block the bill once it reaches the Senate because the barangay elections had already been postponed thrice. (GC)
