The House Committee on Suffrage and Electoral Reforms on Tuesday approved the proposal to postpone the October 2017 barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan (SK) elections.
Voting 19-2, Party-list Rep. and Committee Chairman Sherwin Tugna of Cibac said members of the committee have agreed to postpone anew the barangay elections to May 14, 2018.
Tugna said lawmakers have also decided to retain the incumbent barangay officials in a holdover capacity. The last barangay elections was conducted in October 2013.
“I think if the Lower House will put the bill for second reading in the plenary it [approval] wouldn’t reach the end of August,” the lawmaker said.
Commission on Elections Chairman Andres D. Bautista, meanwhile, was absent during the approval of the proposal resetting village elections due to “a prior engagement in Davao City”.
Moreover, lawyer Edmund Abesamis, national president of Liga ng mga Barangay sa Pilipinas, expressed support to the postponement of the barangay polls, saying there is a valid concern that drug syndicates and personalities will use drug money to infiltrate and influence the elections.
“The postponement of barangay election will facilitate the clearing of drug-affected barangay officials who have already been identified to be involved in illegal drugs. It will boost and strengthen the nation’s war against illegal drugs. It will not only to get rid of ‘narco-politicians’ at the grassroots level but will [also] expedite the attainment of [a] drug-clear Philippines. It is easier to deal with persons who are already identified to be involved in illegal drugs than with those who are unidentified, and yet, could win elections,” Abesamis said in a position paper.
Earlier, Majority Leader Rodolfo C. Fariñas of Ilocos Norte said the lower chamber is eyeing to synchronize the barangay elections with the plebiscite for Charter change and the proposed Bangsamoro basic law in May next year.
Speaker Pantaleon D. Alvarez has backed the call of President Duterte for the postponement of the barangay elections, saying the government is concerned that if the elections were held in October as originally scheduled, the candidates backed by money from drug lords would likely win.
He said it would help Congress act on the proposed measures for the postponement of the October elections if the President would certify the as urgent.
Alvarez added that, aside from allowing the government to thwart the growing influence of drug lords over the barangays, postponing the October barangay will save the government money.