LIGA ng mga Barangay (LNB)-Davao City President Edgar Ibuyan Sr. supports the planned postponement of the Barangay and SK elections (BSKE), which supposedly take place this December 2022, but another proposed postponement for next year will no longer be justifiable.
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 elections are scheduled to be conducted on December 5, 2022, but the measures filed at the House of Representatives want it postponed to December 2023.
Ibuyan said he understood that some legislators lobby for the postponement of the BSKE due to financial constraints brought about by the Covid-19 pandemic.
He said the government could save billions if the BSKE would be postponed anew, which would be alloted to other important allocations, including the Covid-19 response.
While he supports the postponement, the Liga head, who is also the head of Barangay 5-A, clarified that this is not the common sentiment of the barangay officials in the city.
He added that he is also aware that the postponement would garner negative feedback from constituents.
"Makita nato nga naay pagsaway, hilabi na sa mga constituent nga dili kontento sa ilahang panagserbisyo (We are aware that there will be criticisms on this measure, especially to those constituents who are not content with the service of their barangay officials)," Ibuyan said.
This, he said, is an opportunity for the barangay officials to prove their worth to their constituents, and to continue the programs they wanted to implement in their respective areas.
He, however, stressed that the election must be pushed through next year as this would give opportunity to those who also wish to serve their barangay.
"Tama na gyud nang 2023. Dapat mag-election na gyud. Gikan ta sa pandemya, so ang kwarta na i-allot unta sa election, itabang nalang sa katawhan. Kay kung wala lang gyud nagpandemya, hagbay ra nga naa na ta'y eleksyon [(The year) 2023 is the best time we hold the elections. It is understandable that right now we are in a pandemic. The money that we would be using for the elections should, instead, be allotted to the public. If the pandemic didn’t happen, we would’ve conducted the election years back)," Ibuyan said.
SunStar Davao reached out to Sangguniang Kabataan (SK) Davao City Federation president Jaffar Marohomsalic for his reaction on the proposed postponement, but he has not yet responded as of writing.
The House panel voted 12-2 for the postponement. This happened despite the Commission on Elections (Comelec) Commissioner George Garcia’s warning that moving the barangay and SK elections 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 elections are 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.
Several bills had also been filed in relation to the BSKE postponement. Representative Cheeno Miguel Almario of Davao Oriental filed House Bill 1367 on Wednesday, July 13 this year.
Almario emphasized the need to "buy more time" for Filipinos and the country to recover from the impact of the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic.
In his explanatory note, he stated that the two elections would cost the government roughly P10 billion, which could instead be used for initiatives to keep the people safe and help the economy bounce back.
Almario also noted that postponing the barangay and SK elections would allow time “to heal the wounds” caused by the May 2022 elections.
“On the other hand, the May 9, 2022 National and Local elections ushered in new sets of officials, elected and re-elected, who will definitely benefit from the experience of the existing barangay and SK officials in fighting the pandemic. Replacing these barangay and SK officials with a new set at this time, when the country is still trying to get back on its feet, will be counterproductive,” Almario said.
Vice President Sara Duterte-Carpio, in a previous report, supports the proposed postponement for the government to allot the budget to other important items.
She said, though, that there is nothing wrong in having the national and local elections, and the barangay and SK elections in the same year.
Tagum City Vice Mayor Allan Rellon, in contrast, said the BSKE must push through this December 2022 as the community needs "fresh" leaders.
Under Republic Act 9340, barangay and SK elections in the Philippines are held every three years but these are often delayed. Since 2018, barangay elections have been postponed thrice. The coming December 2022 elections should have been held in May 2020.
Recently, the Commission on Elections conducted the BSKE registration, which ended on July 23. RGL with reports from SunStar Philippines