Postponement of village polls Duterte’s priority, says Palace

Presidential spokesperson Ernesto Abella —MALACAÑANG PHOTO

President Rodrigo Duterte would certify as urgent the bill seeking to postpone the barangay elections to 2020 to allow the Chief Executive to appoint all the country’s village officials.

“I’m sure it’s a priority,” Presidential spokesperson Ernesto Abella told reporters in a Palace briefing on Tuesday.

Surigao Del Norte Rep. Robert Ace Barbers had filed House Bill 5359, seeking to postpone the 2017 barangay and Sanggunian Kabataan (SK) elections to May 2020.

“President Rodrigo Duterte said that he wants the October 2017 barangay elections postponed because he does not want those financed by drug lords to win,” Barbers said in a statement.

“It is therefore paramount to postpone the barangay and Sanggunian Kabataan elections to support the President’s call,” he added.

Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez earlier asked Duterte to declare the bill postponing the barangay elections as urgent.

Duterte has repeatedly said in his public speeches that he wanted to postpone the barangay elections fearing that the polls would be influenced by drug money.

The barangay elections were supposed to be held last year but it was rescheduled for October this year.

In his a press briefing after his official visits to Myanmar and Thailand, the President claimed that 40% of all the barangay captains in the Philippines were involved in the illegal drug trade.

“Do not commit the mistake of calling for an election now because narco-politics has entered into the mainstream of Philippine politics,” Duterte said. JE