The House Committee on Suffrage and Electoral Reforms on Tuesday voted to postpone the December 5, 2022 Barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan elections (BSKE) to December 4, 2023.
At least 12 members of the committee approved the motions made by Dasmariñas Rep. Elpidio Barzaga Jr.
In his motions, Barzaga also moved the setting the tenure of those who will be elected in December 2023 and thereafter for three years.
Barzaga also said those elected during the December 4, 2023 elections will start their term at noon of January 1, 2024.
“The bill will be presented to the plenary. Of course, there will be a bill incorporating all the provisions [filed by other lawmakers],” he added.
Currently, there are 38 bills filed all seeking to postpone the December 5, 2022 BSKE.
Authors of the bill said their proposals are expected to generate savings of approximately P8 billion for the government, which could instead be spend for initiatives to keep the people safe and help the economy bounce back.
ACT Teachers Rep. France Castro and Kabataan Rep. Raoul Manuel of Kabataan, who voted for the postponement, said the decision would deprive the voters of their right to choose their barangay officials.
Additional cost
Meanwhile, Commission of Elections (Comelec) Chairman George Garcia said postponing the BSKE would entail additional costs.
He told lawmakers the postponement of the electoral exercise for at least year will cost the government an additional P5 billion.
Garcia said postponing the elections will mean registration of voters will also have to be opened and more voters will mean more elections officers needed and more paraphernalia and materials to be bought by the government.
“But we will just abide by the decision of Congress and the Executive. But [we are appealing not to] schedule it in 2024, because by that time we will already be preparing for the 2025 elections,” he said.
Earlier, Atty. Romulo Macalintal, a veteran election lawyer, said Congress has no power to postpone the village polls, saying any postponement is unconstitutional.
Macalintal said the Constitution only gives Congress the power to “fix” the term of office of barangay officials but not the power to “postpone” their election.
“Only the Comelec has exclusive authority to postpone an election after it has determined that any of the causes under Section 5 of the Omnibus Election Code warrant such postponement,’’ he said.
However, Macalintal said, Congress has the power to postpone the Sangguniang Kabataan (SK) polls since SK is not created by the constitution and that SK officials are not barangay nor local elective officials.
Priority programs
Meanwhile, Deputy Speaker Ralph Recto wants the savings from the election postponement to be allocated for priority programs of the Department of Agriculture (DA).
In his House Bill 2185, Recto said the budget allocated for various programs of the DA may not be enough to increase agricultural productivity.
“Thus, the government must prioritize these programs anew and increase the budget of the agency to address the global and domestic challenges that are expected to accelerate the looming food crisis in the country,” he said.
However, Recto said the current administration is also facing fiscal challenges due to the ballooning outstanding debt of the national government, which now stands at P12.50 trillion as of end-May 2022.
“Therefore, the savings to be generated amounting to P8.4 billion from the postponement of the December 2022 Barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan elections would significantly contribute in funding the priority programs of the DA to ensure food security and sufficiency for the 109 million Filipinos,” he added.