Wednesday, September 19, 2007 Arnaiz lauds postponement of barangay, SK polls By Edmund Sestoso
NEGROS Oriental 2nd District Representative George Arnaiz lauded his colleagues for favoring the postponement of the barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan (SK) elections, which is scheduled for next month, to the second Monday of May 2009.
Arnaiz said that on Monday night, the House of Representatives approved on third and final reading by a vote of 149-50 a key legislation resetting the barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan polls.
Four abstained during the roll-call vote, which lasted more than two hours. It was the first measure passed by the House in the 14th Congress under the leadership of five-time Speaker Jose de Venecia.
House Bill 2417, as amended by Republic Act 9349, includes a provision ensuring full automation of the barangay and SK elections--a major consideration of the measure.
Arnaiz, who had also been advocating for the postponement, said he hopes the Senate will also rush the coming up of a unified legislation.
He said Speaker De Venecia has already instructed Secretary General Roberto Nazareno to immediately transmit the approved copy to the Senate. It's now up to the 23-member Senate to pass a similar measure postponing the polls originally scheduled for October 29.
Congress goes into its first recess on October 13.
Arnaiz said that with the postponement, national finances that will be used for the barangay elections could now be used for other meaningful developmental projects like infrastructure and farm-to-market roads that will enhance the economic situation of the poor farmers because there would then have access to the markets in the lowlands.
The 2nd district legislator also said that prior to the approval of the House measure, public hearings were held and representatives of the Liga ng mga Barangay and the SK National Youth Council invited to attend. All favored the resetting of the October elections.
Views were also taken from top officials of the Commission on Elections, who said it was best to reset the polls because they were come too close to the recent national and local elections last May.
