Barangay, SK polls’ postponement draws mixed views in House
MANILA, Philippines — House of Representatives lawmakers were split on the enactment of a law that effectively suspends the 2026 Barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan Elections (BSKE), with Minority members saying that the people would not benefit from this.
In a statement on Friday, Kabataan party-list Rep. Renee Co said that the basis for the enactment of Republic Act No. 12326, or the Act Fixing the Term of Office of Barangay Officials and Members of the Sangguniang Kabataan to Five Years — that foregoing an election will save funds amid a crisis — is flawed because the last polls were held in 2023 in the face of different societal problems.
In a social media post earlier, President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. confirmed that he has signed the law, which gives barangay officials five-year terms — and effectively setting the next BSKE to the second Monday of November 2028 and every five years thereafter.
This gave incumbent officials elected in 2023 an additional two years in their term.
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“Ang karagdagang panahon sa panunungkulan ay karagdagang panahon para kumapit sa kapangyarihan, lalo na kung walang malinaw na batayan para ipagpaliban ang halalan. Kunwari pang term extension lang ang ginagawa, pero BSKE postponement ang totoong habol,” Co said.
(The additional two years in their term is an additional time to cling onto power, especially if there is no clear basis to delay the elections. They crafted it in the guise of term extension for barangay officials, but they are only after BSKE postponement.)
“Kung babalikan, naisagawa naman ang BSKE noong 2023 sa kabila ng iba’t ibang krisis, kaya malaking kasinungalingan kung sasabihin na hindi handa ang gobyerno. Sabi nga ng Comelec (Commission on Elections), gumastos na sila ng milyones sa paghahanda para sa paparating na eleksyon. Para saan pa ang lahat ng iyon kung hindi lang pala ito matutuloy?” she asked.
(If we can recall, the BSKE was held in 2023 despite different crises, that’s why it’s a big lie to say that the government is not prepared. As the Comelec (Commission on Elections) stated, they had already spent millions to prepare for the next elections. What is that for if the polls will not push through?)
READ: Marcos signs BSKE postponement into law
Mamamayang Liberal party-list Rep. Leila de Lima believes the people would not gain from this decision, saying that she does not expect reforms to come out of the additional two years in the barangay officials’ term.
Instead, de Lima believes this additional time will only be used for politicking.
“Hindi taumbayan ang makikinabang sa paulit-ulit at niratsadang BSKE postponement. Bilyon-bilyong pondo na nagastos na ang masasayang. Ipagkakait na naman ang karapatan nating bumoto, at ang pagkakataong makapaglingkod ang marami pang karapat-dapat na lider – mga karapatan itong dapat igalang, hindi ine-etsapuwera o isinasakripisyo,” she said.
(The people would not benefit from the rushed BSKE postponement. Billions of funds spent will go to waste. They are depriving the people of our right to vote, and the chance to serve the rightful leaders of our communities — this is a right that must be respected, and not set aside or sacrificed.)
“Hindi reporma ang ibubunga ng paulit-ulit na BSKE postponement, kundi paglala ng mga perwisyong hatid ng sistemang padrino,” she added.
(Reforms do not come out of the repetitive BSKE postponement, but a worse menace brought by a padrino system.)
On the other hand, Manila Rep. Joel Chua, a member of the Majority, said that the resetting of the next elections gives incumbent barangay officials more time to serve their constituents.
“Wine-welcome namin ’yung naging desisyon ng ating Pangulo na i-postpone ang barangay election,” Chua, chairperson of the House committee on good government and public accountability, said on Friday.
(We welcome the decision of our President to postpone the barangay election.)
“Ito naman ay dagdag taon para sa mga opisyal ng barangay na kasalukuyang nakaupo. So, dagdag taon para sila po ay makapagserbisyo,” he added.
(This is an additional time for incumbent officials of the barangay. So it is also an additional year for them to serve well.)
Based on a copy of the law posted on the Official Gazette, incumbent elective barangay officials shall be considered to have completed one term in their respective positions, given the two-year extension of their terms.
“Incumbent officials serving their last term in the same position in accordance with Section 1 hereof shall be ineligible to run for the same position in the November 2028 Barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan Elections,” the law, which was officially signed on September 24, read.
A vacancy in the Sangguniang Kabataan shall be filled by appointment by the city or municipal mayor, while a vacancy in the SK chairperson position shall be filled through succession as provided by law.
Additionally, the law noted that being an incumbent official does not protect them from pending and future investigations concerning administrative, civil, or criminal cases or liabilities against them.
In a statement, Senator Francis Escudero thanked Marcos for signing the law, which he said would provide certainty and stability in governance—essential given that barangays serve as the government’s front line in delivering public services.
Escudero was the principal author of the bill’s version in the Senate.
This is not the first time that barangay elections were postponed under Marcos’ term. On October 12, 2022, the president signed a law that postpones the BSKE by a year, or from December 2022 to the last Monday of October 2023, and every three years after that.
READ: President signs into law bill suspending 2022 barangay, SK elections
However, this law was deemed unconstitutional by the Supreme Court (SC). In its ruling, the SC declared that the free and meaningful exercise of the right to vote, which is guaranteed by the Constitution, requires that elections be held at periodic intervals that are not unduly long.
SC said that while the original schedule of the elections had lapsed, their decision would serve as a guidance on the next elections. SC ordered that the October 2023 BSKE proceed, with the next elections held on December 5, 2025, and subsequent polls every three years after, on the first Monday of December.
Late opposition figure and former Albay lawmaker Edcel Lagman said in June 2023 that the SC decision supported their stand against the measure when it was still at the House.
Lagman said that SC’s decision affirms their contention that the reasons laid down by lawmakers who supported Republic Act No. 11935 — like the BSKE suspension being necessary for COVID-19 pandemic response and to avoid election fatigue — are “based on arbitrary grounds”.
Lagman was among the few lawmakers who opposed the proposal, saying as early as September 15, 2022 that the reasons for the BSKE suspension are not credible. /mr
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