Headline
House OKs village, SK polls postponement on final reading
![Ballot Box with Person Casting a Vote](https://canadianinquirer.net/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/Ballot-Box-with-Person-Casting-a-Vote-1-scaled.jpg)
Once passed into law, incumbent barangay and SK officials will retain their position on holdover capacity “unless sooner removed or suspended for cause.” (Pexels photo)
MANILA – The House of Representatives on Tuesday passed on final reading a measure seeking to postpone the Dec. 5, 2022 barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan elections (BSKE) for one year.
With 265 affirmative votes, six negative votes, and three abstentions, the chamber approved on third reading House Bill 4673, which proposes to allow the deferment of this year’s BSKE and move its date to the first Monday of December 2023.
Under the measure, the subsequent synchronized BSKE was also set on the first Monday of December 2026 and every three years thereafter.
Once passed into law, incumbent barangay and SK officials will retain their position on holdover capacity “unless sooner removed or suspended for cause.”
House Majority Leader Manuel Jose Dalipe earlier said Speaker Martin Romualdez is supportive of the proposal because this would allow the Commission and Elections (Comelec) and the local government units to better prepare for clean and orderly barangay polls and provide the government ample time to apply corrective adjustments to the honoraria of poll workers.
Deputy Speaker and Batangas Rep. Ralph Recto voted in favor of the measure, saying the “astronomical price tag” of holding a national election has been the main driving argument in postponing barangay elections.
Recto pointed out that the “bare-bones cost” of one stand-alone national election is PHP8.5 billion, which is the amount given to the Comelec to administer the Dec. 5, 2022 elections.
“This comes up to PHP126 per voter, 25 times the PHP5 spending limit that a kapitan wannabe may splurge on for every registered voter in his dominion,” he said.
He said holding elections is expensive due to the size of the electorate and the frequency of elections.
He added that the budget for barangay elections could be used in the meantime for activities that will improve food security.
“I think that is also what the people want today, that given a vote on where the PHP8.5 billion would be spent, they would choose, by a landslide, food that could feed their families, rather than a ballot they would feed on the counting machines,” he said. “More than the election fatigue cited by the Comelec in invoking that the elections be postponed, it is the people’s hunger that should benefit from the postponement dividend.”
He said the government could work on political and economic reforms, including a long-term strategy on how to make the conduct of elections economical.
Jam Allysa Montajes
September 21, 2022 at 12:30 PM
Please lang sana magkabotohan na for barangay officials, dahil may mga display lang dito sa amin na officials👀