House OKs proposed barangay polls postponement on final reading

The House of Representatives has approved on third and final reading the bill postponing the village elections. AP PHOTO/Aaron Favila

The bill seeking to postpone anew the October 23, 2017 barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan (SK) elections to May 2018 was passed on third reading in the House of Representatives on Monday.

House Bill 6308 was approved on third reading during plenary session on Monday, a few days after it hurdled second reading last Wednesday.

At least 213 lawmakers voted to approve the measure, while 10 lawmakers voted against it.

READ: Bill postponing barangay polls gets 2nd reading approval 

This was the second time the lower House approved a bill postponing the barangay polls.

After its third reading approval, the bill will then be tackled in the bicameral conference to be consolidated with the Senate version.

In the bill, incumbent barangay officials are also allowed to remain in a holdover position.

READ: Bill postponing barangay polls hurdles House panel

In explaining their vote against the bill, the Makabayan bloc said the second postponement of the barangay elections violates the public’s democratic rights to choose their own leaders.

“Narcopolitics should not be invoked to replace the people’s right to vote,” Gabriela Rep. Arlene Brosas said.

Act Teachers Rep. Antonio Tinio said there is no sense to postpone the village polls to rid the drug lords’ influence at the barangay level because the officials accused of coddling drug lords would retain their posts in a hold-over capacity.

“Walang saysay, walang katwiran ito. Kung totoo na drug protector ang ilang barangay officials, bakit po ipo-postpone ang election. Edi lalo lang pinanatili sa puwesto nang walang mandato ang tinaguriang drug protector o coddler,” Tinio said.

Cebu City Rep. Raul Del Mar also voted against the measure which he said “discriminates” against barangay and Sanggunian Kabataan officials.

Del Mar added that the measure violates the will of the people, who voted the local officials on a fixed term.

“They elected them for a fixed term, until Oct. 21 last year. And we postponed it to October 23 this year. One postponement too many. To postpone it once again, for the second time, is two postponements too much,” Del Mar said.

Del Mar said postponing the barangay polls would keep the errant barangay officials in office for another seven months.

“With the tireless war against illegal drugs, and the public eye on narcopolitics, no public official, much less any barangay leader or drug lord, can hide his illegal acts behind the cloak of his office,” Del Mar said.

Magdalo Rep Gary Alejano for his part found it contradictory that the administration allowed barangay officials to retain their posts, despite President Rodrigo Duterte’s claims that 40 percent of the barangay officials are involved in illegal drugs.

“The barangay election is supposed to be an opportunity to cleanse the government posts at the barangay level. If indeed the current barangay posts are compromised by drug-tainted personalities, then it is more necessary to hold the barangay election to remove officials involved in illegal dealings,” Alejano said.

“The postponement of the barangay election does not serve any purpose but to curtail our democratic processes. This administration is not only killing thousands in the streets. It is slowly killing our democracy,” he added.

Congress last year approved a similar bill postponing the 2016 barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan elections to October 23, 2017, with the officials retaining a holdover position.

The previous elections was held in October 2013.

READ: House approves on final reading postponement of barangay polls 

Lawmakers in supporting the postponement echoed President Rodrigo Duterte’s call to postpone the elections so that the villages would be weeded out of barangay officials who are suspected of being coddlers of drug lords.

The House all-party caucus agreed to postpone it anew to May 2018 to synchronize the barangay elections with the plebiscite for Charter change and the proposed Bangsamoro Basic Law, two key pieces of legislation of the current administration.

READ: Abella: Gov’t always ready for polls sans Congress decision