MANILA -- A House of Representatives panel approved Tuesday, September 6, the proposal to postpone the barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan (SK) elections to October next year.
The House Committee on Suffrage and Electoral Reforms unanimously voted for the passage of House Bill 3384, which seeks to reset both polls from October 31, 2016 to October 23, 2017.
House Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez authored the measure, along with Deputy Speakers Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, Raneo Abu, Miro Quimbo, and Mylene Garcia-Albano.
“The postponement will give the Commission on Elections more time to prepare its personnel and resources for the electoral exercise, having only recently concluded the conduct of the May 2016 national and local elections,” the bill said.
Cibac Partylist Representative Sherwin Tugna, chair of the House panel, said the bill will be up for second reading on Wednesday, September 7, while the third and final reading will be done by next week.
Tugna noted that the bill will be the same as the Senate version so that there would be no need to call for a bicameral conference committee.
He said the bill also seeks to move the elections from October to May.
Meanwhile, the holdover capacity for barangay officials will be retained.
“All these amendments do not substantially alter the current bill on postponement, which in reality is for the benefit of the people,” Tugna told reporters. (PNA)