THE Commission on Elections (Comelec) is leaving to Congress and the Executive Department the decision on the latest proposal to postpone the November 2, 2026 Barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan Elections (BSKE).
In an interview, Comelec Chairman George Garcia said the poll body has no authority to postpone the elections on its own.
“Postponing the election is not the call of the Comelec. It is the call of our Congress and the Executive Department,” Garcia said.
“Whatever their decision may be, the Comelec will just follow,” he added.
For now, Garcia said the Comelec will continue its preparations for the BSKE as scheduled.
“If there will be a call for a hearing, we will participate. We will tell them that the Comelec is prepared to conduct the elections by November 2,” he said.
On Tuesday, August 4, Negros Occidental Representative Javier Miguel Benitez filed House Bill 10591 seeking to postpone the BSKE from November 2, 2026 to November 2028.
Benitez cited three reasons for the proposed postponement: the ongoing energy crisis, the need for local government units to focus on disaster response amid a series of calamities, and the conduct of the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (Barmm) parliamentary elections.
He argued that these developments continue to strain government resources and require the full attention of national and local officials.
The National Movement for Free Elections (Namfrel) immediately opposed the latest proposal.
In a statement, Namfrel rejected House Bill No. 10591, saying the BSKE should proceed as scheduled and that the repeated postponement of barangay and youth elections must end.
“We call on the House of Representatives to reject this measure and allow the BSKE to proceed as scheduled,” Namfrel said.
“Every postponement makes the next one easier to justify. Namfrel believes this cycle must stop with the schedule that is already the law of the land,” it added.
The poll watchdog said it is unacceptable that the BSKE has become the country’s “most frequently postponed democratic exercise.”
“Regular elections, held on time, remain the surest foundation of accountable governance at the grassroots level, where the impact of leadership, for better or worse, is felt most directly by ordinary Filipinos,” Namfrel said.
Republic Act 12232 sets the next BSKE on the first Monday of November 2026. (Anton Banal/SunStar Philippines)
