Lawmakers in the Upper Chamber led by Senator Imee Marcos expressed on Wednesday their support to postpone the December 2022 Barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan Elections (BSKE) through proposed Senate Bill No. (SBN) 1306.
In her privilege speech, Marcos said the proposed measure seeks to postpone the BSKE to December 2023 amid issues plaguing both the Barangay and the Sangguniang Kabataan systems.
She said the postponement will provide the Senate time to study and review the existing laws to fix the problem.
“Unang-una, halos taun-taon na tayong nage-eleksyon. Kung tutuusin, napakaikli ng tatlong taon para gampanan ang napakabigat na trabaho sa barangay (First, almost every year, we conduct elections. To think of it, three years is very short to do the work in a barangay),” she added.
Marcos, who chairs the Senate Committee on Electoral Reforms and People’s Participation, said every barangay election since 1989 has been postponed, resulting in an actual extension of terms in barangays averaging four to five years.
The lawmaker thus is proposing to extend the term of Barangay and SK officials to six years and fix their elections every May the year following presidential elections permanently through her recently filed SBN 1195.
Marcos also suggested looking into the present Sangguniang Kabataan system, citing the feasibility of abolishing the Pederasyon ng Sangguniang Kabataan at the barangay level and maintaining it at the city and municipal level only.
“In my view, instead of an SK federation, a single SK representative in every barangay or municipal council should be considered. Perhaps a full federation is warranted only at the city or the provincial level with the additional provisor only of reorganizing the SK federation every three years or at mid-term, thus avoiding the need yet for another election,” she said.
Marcos also underscored the need to study the proposal of the Commission on Elections (Comelec) which also requested the postponement and a more than 200 percent increase in its 2023 budget if the BSKE will be finally postponed in December 2023.
“Comelec claims that they have somehow obligated or disbursed far more and then, they are requesting that should the elections be postponed to December 2023, the amount of PHP18.441 billion should be provided in the 2023 budget. That is 218 percent more than their budget this year – an amount I think is unmerited,” she added.
During the joint organizational meeting conducted by Marcos’ committee with the Comelec, chairperson George Garcia said that if the BSKE is moved to May 2023, the number of clustered precincts would rise to 230,415 with an estimated budgetary requirement of PHP17.093 billion.
There would also be 239,000 clustered precincts with a PHP18.441 billion estimated requirement, he said.
Garcia said the budget includes the increase in the honoraria of poll workers, whose number is also projected to increase if the BSKE is postponed.
Senators Ramon Revilla, Jr., Christopher Lawrence Go, Jinggoy Estrada, and Francis Tolentino manifested to make themselves co-chairs of Marcos’ measure.
The House Committee on Suffrage and Electoral Reforms approved on Aug. 16 a proposal to postpone the BSKE to Dec. 4, 2023.
Twelve voted in favor of the postponement to save money that could be diverted to financial aid for the poor and other more urgent programs. (PNA)