Comelec eyes village election postponement

Comelec Chairman Sixto Brillantes Jr.

MANILA, Philippines – The Commission on Elections (Comelec) wants to postpone the barangay (village) elections in October to 2014, poll chairman Sixto Brillantes Jr. said Monday.

“I would like to postpone the barangay elections; I would rather concentrate in preparing for the 2016 [elections and] make recommendations now [to the] Joint Congressional Oversight Committee,” Brillantes told reporters in a press briefing.

“If we will prepare for the barangay elections in October, by June or July we should be preparing already [because] we need at least four months preparation so we will not be able to do anything else,” he said.

When asked when he would like it held, Brillantes said he wants it done in October 2014 or January 2015. He however said it should not be too late in 2015 to avoid overlapping with the preparations for the 2016 presidential elections.

Brillantes also said that 2014 would be more convenient since the Comelec would have already wrapped up all remaining issue with the recently concluded 2013 elections.

“[By that time] we would already have rested and all issues have been addressed, and the 2016 elections would still be relatively far,” Brillantes said.

“Now, we just finished and we expect protest cases, I don’t know how many. We are drafting already new rules regarding protest cases,” he said.

The postponement of the barangay elections however, requires a law, and Brillantes said that he will endorse the bills already pending before Congress.

“There are already pending bills, we will endorse them. Officially I will endorse a postponement,” he said.