Earlier in the week, the House of Representatives finally passed a bill postponing the barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan (SK) elections, originally scheduled for the 23rd of October 2017. The bill seeks to reschedule the elections to May 2018, with incumbents staying on until their successors have been elected. While this development does not mean the elections have already been postponed—you need a law, signed by the President, for that to happen—it does move us closer to that outcome.
After the House passed its version of the postponement bill, two main features of the Senate counterpart measure also received media—and thus, public—attention. It seems that there are two main differences between the two versions. The first has to do with the date to which the elections will be moved. The Senate wants the elections held in October 2018, not May.
This proposal is being met with some concern since it puts the elections smack dab in the middle of the preparations for the 2019 National and Local Elections (NLE). NLEs are complicated affairs requiring management, coordination and resource mobilization on a large scale.
Holding the barangay and SK elections when the commission is supposed to be focused on getting ready for the NLE might be adding an unnecessary complication that could have negative repercussions downstream.
The second difference between the House and the Senate versions is that, while the House has the incumbents on hold-over capacity until their successors are elected, the Senate would allow the replacement of incumbents by
appointment.
Inasmuch as the Senate clearly leans toward postponement as well, once these disagreements are sorted out, all that is needed for postponement to happen is the President’s signature—and there has never been any question about what the President wants. But this state of affairs—half-in, half-out, with only a little over a month to go—makes things complicated for election stakeholders, particularly candidates.
For weeks now, my office has been receiving lots of calls from people planning to run for barangay or SK office. What they all have in common is the concern about when to start printing their campaign materials. Clearly, the government, through the Commission on Elections (Comelec), isn’t the only one who will be incurring costs to prepare for coming elections.
I understand the situation these potential candidates and campaigners find themselves in. And sadly, I can offer very little in terms of advice—and what little advice I can give might even sound a little preachy or self-serving.
To avoid spending money, Don’t.
Barangay and SK elections are supposed to be low-cost affairs. There was even a time when printed campaign materials were prohibited. Over the years, this rule has been relaxed and tarps have been allowed. With so much uncertainty about whether the polls will proceed, now may be the time to go back to the low-cost, no-frills roots of the barangay and SK elections.
Hand-written signs on sari-sari store-bought bond paper ought to be enough. With creativity and imagination, you might even be able to make some standout campaign materials with less than that.
More important, instead of relying on flashy tarps and noisy caravans, design a campaign that will have you talking to the voters directly. Woo them like politicians used to do: listen to them, hear them out and share your plans for the community. The barangay and SK elections should be about public service, after all, and not even the most expensive campaigns can guarantee that.
If only those aspiring for barangay and SK office were to approach the coming campaign season with that frame of mind, then it won’t really matter to them—financially anyway—whether the elections are postponed definitively tomorrow or on the day before elections.
Sadly, the same can’t be said for the Comelec. To date, more than 13 million ballots have been printed. At a cost of about P3 per ballot, that translates to a running total of more than P39 million; and that’s just for ballots. Financially, yes, the public treasure might be about to take a hit. But what can be done? There is no timetable for the Senate to come up with its version of the postponement bill. So, despite the House version being completed, the elections are still pushing through. For now, anyway.