CITING election fatigue, financial uncertainty and political turbulence, Rep. Gabriel Luis R. Quisumbing (Cebu, 6th district) has filed a bill seeking the postponement of barangay and Sang-guniang Kabataan (SK) elections.
Quisumbing is proposing that the elections scheduled in October 2010 be moved to October 2011.
“The money intended for the barangay and SK elections can be used in the meantime for basic social services like health, education and livelihood,” he said in his one-page bill he filed in the 15th Congress.
He said the postponement can help avoid aggravating the country’s budget deficit.
One Cebu, Quisum-bing’s party, supports the bill.
Party spokesperson Rory Jon Sepulveda said politicians need to focus on the delivery of basic services and take a break from the elections. Businessmen can also focus on their businesses.
Although, Cebu has relatively peaceful elections, Sepulveda agreed with Quisumbing’s observation that there is political turbulence, “not in Cebu but in some areas.”
Cebu SK Federation president Bea Mercede Calderon said she is in favor of the bill because her term will also be extended.
“Although it would be nice to turn my office over to a fresher fellow youth who may have equally fresher ideas, a postponement of the elections would mean that I will have an extended opportunity to continue the projects that I have started and probably come up with more,” she said.