Comelec updates calendar for barangay, SK polls

FILE PHOTO: A teacher prepares a tally sheet in one of the polling centers at Corazon Aquino Elementary School on Batasan Road, Quezon City, on the eve of the barangay  and the Sangguniang Kabataan elections in 2018. Philippine Daily Inquirer/Grig C. Montegrande

MANILA, Philippines — The Commission on Elections (Comelec) on Thursday released its revised calendar of activities for the 2022 Barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan Elections (BSKE).

Comelec said in an advisory that the Comelec en banc approved the adjusted schedule on Wednesday, September 21.

Below is the authorized final timetable for the BSKE in December:

• October 22 to 29 (except October 23) – Filing of certificates of candidacy
• November 6 to December 20 – Election period, gun ban
• November 25 to December 3 – Campaign period
• December 5 – Election day with voting hours from 7 a.m. up to 3 p.m.
• January 4, 2023 – Last day to file Statement of Contribution and Expenditures (SOCE)

Before these adjustments, the filing of COCs for candidates running in the BSKE was originally set from October 6-13, while the gun ban was initially set from October 6-December 12.

The modification of the BSKE schedule came as Congress tackles proposals to postpone the BSKE this year.

A House bill on the BSKE deferment has been approved on final reading. It seeks to move the BSKE to December 4, 2023.

A similar bill at the Senate has been passed on second reading on September 21.

The last BSKE was held in May 2018 as President Rodrigo Duterte signed a law which moved the May 2020 BSKE to December 2022.

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