Monday, September 24, 2007 Senators prefer Oct. 29 election schedule
MAJORITY of the 24 senators oppose the postponement of the Oct. 29 barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan (SK) polls but there is no guarantee that the elections will not be moved, Senate President Manuel Villar Jr. said.
House Bill (HB) 2417, which seeks to postpone the barangay and youth elections to May 2009, has been transmitted to the Senate but hearings on the measure have yet to be scheduled.
Even before they can tackle the bill, Villar has called for a caucus to find out the senators’ sentiments on the proposal.
There are five weeks left before the scheduled elections and for Villar, the candidates in the barangay and SK elections should already have an idea about the Senate’s possible decision on the issue so they can prepare for the polls.
“An overwhelming majority of the senators don’t want to postpone it anymore, they just want it to push through as scheduled because they feel it has been delayed for so long already. It has been postponed twice and moving it for the third time is too much for them,” he told a press conference yesterday.
Villar explained, though, that there is no guarantee the senators will completely reject the bill since it will go through a process and some senators might still change their minds.
“I called for a caucus and after a heated debate, it is highly possible it will not be postponed anymore but we’re not 100 percent sure on that because there is a process for this. It will pass through the committees and we might vote on it or we may just sit on it,” he said.
After hearing the senators’ comments, Villar said he is only “90 percent sure” the synchronized elections will be held on Oct. 29 as scheduled.
He admitted the Senate is pressed for time and if they cannot start the hearings in a week’s time, the proponents of the postponement will have a hard time getting the Senate’s concurrence.
If he had his way, Villar said he does not want the polls postponed but as Senate president, he will make sure the process is followed in respect to the proponents at the Lower House.
The senators also feel that there are SK leaders who are already overage because of the extension of their terms.
In a press conference at the Waterfront Cebu City Hotel and Casino yesterday, Villar also cited the need to review and amend the laws and the Local Government Code provision that prescribed the creation of the SK.
“We have to study this carefully and we need to make some changes to be sure that the youth are being trained as leaders and not in other things.
There is really a need to revisit this law,” he added. (LCR)
