Solon suggests a 2026 barangay polls, avoid shorter terms for incumbent execs

Camarines Sur Rep. LRay Villafuerte Jr. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO/NIÑO JESUS ORBETA

MANILA, Philippines — Camarines Sur Rep. LRay Villafuerte is suggesting that the next Barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan Elections (BSKE) be held in 2026 instead of 2025, so that sitting officials would not be given shorter terms.

Villafuerte in a statement on Tuesday said he and other lawmakers have filed House Bill (HB) No. 10344 to move the next elections to October 26, 2026, explaining that incumbent barangay officials can only perform their duties for two years, which may severely impact performance and delivery of service.

The previous BSKE held last October 30, 2023, while the next one would be held on December 2025.

READ: Comelec expecting 3 million new voters ahead of 2025 polls

“(It) diminishes the obligations of the incumbent BSK officials to serve their constituents, and lessens their accountabilities in the exercise of the power vested in them by the people’s free choice,” Villafuerte said.

Worse, the lawmaker said that having the polls in 2025 might be “tantamount to the impairment of the expectations from the incumbents of our electorate’s overall exercise of their right to suffrage”.

Contravene

“(This shorter term) will actually contravene the three-year term of office for these elective officials as mandated by the 1987 Charter and the 1991 LGC (Local Government Code),” Villafuerte added.

Despite opposition from different sectors, Congress approved a bill that pushed back the BSKE scheduled in 2022 to October 2023, in a bid to save funds and focus government resources on post-pandemic recovery. It was signed into law by President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. in October 2022.

READ: President signs into law bill suspending 2022 barangay, SK elections

But last June 2023, the Supreme Court (SC) declared the law as unconstitutional, while recognizing the legal practicality and necessity to proceed with the elections last October 2023.

However, the SC stressed that elections must be held periodically, to avoid disenfranchising voters.

READ: SC declares law postponing Brgy, SK polls unconstitutional

Synchronized BSKE

Villafuerte argues that while SC  has declared Republic Act No. 11935 or the law that suspended the BSKE as unconstitutional, Congress was not barred from amending RA No. 9164 which called for a synchronized BSKE.

Thus, the lawmaker believes Congress can act to ensure that elected officials can fulfill their mandates.

“The election of an official is not only a political contract between the elected leader and the electorate, it is also a legal and social one. It is a sacred contract that is time-bound,” Villafuerte said.

“Thus, this proposed amendment on setting the next BSKE in 2026 and then every three years thereafter gives the sufficiency of time for barangay and SK officials to fulfill their promises and obligations in accordance with the term of three years as intended by the Constitution, the 1991 LGC and RA 9164,” he added.

Villafuerte also clarified that HB No. 10344, which he crafted alongside with Camarines Sur 5th District Rep. Miguel Luis Villafuerte and Bicol Saro party-list Rep. Brian Raymund Yamsuan, does not seek term extension.  Rather, the proposal only wants to provide barangay officials with the proper term length that they were elected for.

“An elective term is meant to be served out in full,” Villafuerte said. “HB 10344 does not attempt to extend the term of office of the incumbent BSK officials; Rather, it intends to harmonize the mandated three-year term of the incumbents and the next BSK elections,” he said.

“In effect, this gives the present set of barangay and SK officials a full three years to serve and set the term for BSK officials to be every three years as mandated by the Constitution and RA 9164,” he added.