THE House of Representatives committee on suffrage and electoral reforms approved on first reading Tuesday, August 16, 2022, the measures that seek to postpone the barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan (SK) elections.
The barangay and SK election is scheduled to be conducted on December 5, 2022, but the measures filed at the House of Representatives want it postponed to December 2023.
The House panel voted 12-2 for the postponement. This happened despite the Commission on Elections (Comelec) Commissioner George Garcia’s warning that moving it to a later date would mean additional costs.
In his explanation during the committee hearing Tuesday, Garcia said the Comelec would have to resume the voter registration by October this year if the barangay and SK election is postponed.
Holding the voter registration again would mean a bigger budget as the Comelec has to set a budget for it, as well as for voting materials.
He said that at present, the Comelec has P8.449 billion. If the election is postponed, the government will need another P5 billion.
“If we are going to postpone the elections and increase the honorarium of poll watchers, on the assumption that Congress will be kind enough to increase the honorarium, plus the expenses for the continuing voter registration and such other additional expenses, we need another P5 billion,” Garcia said.
He stressed that the Comelec will just abide by the mandate of Congress and President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. with regards to the election postponement, but he appealed not to hold it in 2024, stressing that the poll body will then be preparing for the 2025 national polls.
As of August 16, at least 38 bills have been filed in Congress seeking for the postponement of the barangay and SK elections. Among the reasons cited were the effects of the coronavirus disease (Covid-19) pandemic. (LMY)