FILE Some early voters start to cast their votes for the 2018 barangay elections at the P. Burgos Elementary School in Manila on May 14, 2018. INQUIRER.NET / FAYE ORELLANA
MANILA, Philippines — Village officials may have longer term than the president of the Philippines if the barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan (SK) elections this year would be postponed anew.
Senate President Vicente “Tito” Sotto III said this in jest on Monday as he joined other sectors in opposing the postponement of the elections slated on December 5.
“Tigilan na natin yang kaka postpone. Ilang beses na yang postpone-postpone na yan. Grabe, malala e. Paulit-ulit yung postponement,” the Senate leader lamented in an interview over Radyo5.
“Ilang postpone na e. Tuloy na nila… well wala ako dyan, bahala na sila next Congress,” said Sotto, whose term in the Senate expires on June 30.
“Pero sakin opinion ko, huwag na, tigilan na yang kaka-postpone. E mas mahaba pa ang term ng mga barangay captain kesa sa presidente ng Pilipinas e,” he further said.
In 2016, the barangay and SK elections were postponed to 2018. The following year, President Rodrigo Duterte signed a law moving the May 2020 elections to December 2022.
The possibility of postponing the elections floated anew with House Majority Leader Ferdinand Martin Romualdez saying this would free up over P8 billion in funding which could be used for the government’s COVID-19 response.
There is a pending bill in the House of Representatives seeking to postpone the barangay and SK elections to May 6, 2024.
But for Sotto, it would be better if next Congress should get the opinion first of President-elect Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr on the issue.